374 REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 



of camlets. Their flesh is good. A few of them have been 

 reared in Maine; but it is believed that the wool has not been 

 manufactured into any thing but coarse fabrics."* 



The Saxon sheep are a variety of the merino, crossed with 

 the best native breeds of Saxony. At the termination of the 

 seven years war, (1765,) Augustus, Elector of Saxony, sought 

 patriotically to advance the interests of his people, by promot- 

 ing an improved state of agriculture, and the extensive intro- 

 duction of all kinds of improved farm stock. He introduced 

 from Spain several hundreds of sheep of pure blood. It was 

 found that the climate suited them, and that the native stock 

 was greatly improved by the cross. They have been intro- 

 duced into the United States from Saxony; and the crossing has 

 lengthened the staples, and increased the fineness of the wool 

 of our breeds, but the quantity has diminished; audit is assert- 

 ed by WILLIAM JARVIS, a respectable and experienced wool- 

 grower of Weathersfield, Vermont, that the crossing has not 

 only reduced very essentially the quantity of the wool of our 

 flocks, but that it has had a tendency to injure their constitu- 

 tions. 



HENRY D. GROVE, Esq., of Buskirk's Bridge, (Hoosick, 

 Rensellaer county, New York,) who is familiar with these 

 sheep, and understands the proper mode of treatment, has 

 cultivated them here to great advantage. His flock is of 

 the pure breed of Saxony, selected and imported by himself, 

 and he maintains that they (the pure Saxony breed) are not 

 only adapted to this country, but will prove in the end the 

 most valuable. They are healthy and hardy. He says, "last 

 year I raised one hundred and one lambs from one hundred 

 ewes, only one ewe having twins 75 of course none of the 

 lambs died, which speaks well for the breed or treatment, or 

 both. "My flock last year of two hundred ewes and lambs, 

 averaged two pounds six and a half ounces the fleece; the ave- 

 rage, if I had had a fair proportion of wethers, would have been 

 three pounds the fleece, as my grown bucks sheared four and 

 a half pounds." Mr. GROVE says the mutton of the true 

 Saxon is equal to that of the best South-down. On account 

 of its peculiar fineness the Saxon wool brings a higher price 

 than any other in the market. The following are the prices 

 of the wool of the different breeds at New York at the periods 

 vstated: 1835, May Saxony 80 cents; full-blooded merino 

 60; native and quarter 33; 1838, Jan. 21 Saxony 45 to 50 

 cents; merino, full-blood, 35 a 40; 1839, Aug. 28 American 

 Saxony fleece 55 a 60; full-blooded merino 50 a 55; native 

 and quarter 38 a 40. This is an infallible test. 

 * "Northern Shepherd," p. 24. 



