/60 AUGUST. 



weight. The Spanish fleeces, winch are firrer than 

 any other, are heavier than those of our finest 

 woolled sheep. With combing -wool, the import- 

 ance of the fleece depends still more on price; we 

 have seen it 8s. a tod : and it has lately been 36s. 

 Quality is of very little consequence, indeed, com- 

 pared with quantity, and when wool sells high, no 

 prudent breeder will set }ns stock without being 

 governed considerably by this object. 



The high . prices at which new Leicester, 

 and new South Down rams lett and sell, has 

 opened a field of speculation in sheep- breed- 

 ing. It is sufficient to remark, that this spirit 

 of breeding/ whether it shall prove durable or 

 not ; whether much money shall or shall not be 

 made in it in future, is not what any prudent man 

 beginning business will adventure in but with 

 great caution : men of such immense fortune arc 

 now taking a lead in it, and are in many respects 

 doing it on F-uch liberal principles, that the wisest 

 conduct of such farmers as I may be supposed to 

 address, is to take proper opportunities of con- 

 verting their experiments to their own (the farmers) 

 profit. Leave the expence to them, but when you 

 can, convert the profit to your own advantage. In 

 setting -a stock of lambs, therefore, you may mark 

 a score of the best, for a future ram to be picked 

 up when opportunity offers : or, better still, to. 

 send to the tup of some ram-letter that takes them 

 in at a reasonable price per head. By every year 

 Selecting five or six per cent, and by every year 



cover- 



