166 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE. 



is necessary to know the " points " of a sheep thoroughly. 

 The points of a carcase and they apply equally to merinos, 

 Leicesters, Lincolns, and others are depth, girth, a round- 

 ness of barrel, with ribs well sprung, thickness behind the 

 shoulders, breadth of forehead, and width between the eyes, 

 shortness of neck and legs, and general squareness of frame. 

 The sheep to avoid, are thin-necked, leggy, flat-sided narrow 

 made, small-footed, ill-shaped animals, with prominent, 

 staring eyes, and narrow, hard faces. The carcase of a 

 first-class Lincoln should be covered with a long, bright, 

 lustrous fleece, in length from eight to ten inches, free from 

 fuzziness, which denotes a bad merino cross ; so does 

 anything like wool on the face, which should be covered 

 with a soft, white hair. Horns also denote a cross of some 

 sort. Want of attention may quite spoil a flock by breeding 

 from mongrels. Possibly we cannot do better than buy as 

 many ewes as required full-mouthed (as few men will sell 

 their best maiden ewes), from some well-known station 

 breeder. But do not let us have any broken-mouthed or 

 sheep with defective teeth. The rams should be put in five 

 months before the lambs are wanted. 



Weight of Australian Fleeces. Awards for fleeces 

 were made as follows at a recent exhibition at Wagga : 

 First, total weight 3 ewes' fleeces in grease, 351b. 7oz. ; 

 scoured, 211b. 14oz. Second, weight in grease, 301b. lloz. ; 

 scoured, 201b. 3|oz. Third, in grease, 361b. 4oz. ; scoured, 

 201b. llioz. Fourth, in grease, 331b. 9oz. ; scoured, 201b, 

 15|oz. Fifth, in grease, 321b. 13oz. ; scoured, 211b. 



XVI. THE HORSE IN AUSTRALIA. 



HE lives much more in the open air than in Europe or 

 America. The climate allows of his being put upon grass 

 at all periods of the year. Consequently he is a much 

 sounder animal than where he is continuously stable fed. 

 The horses of Australia are noted for sound limbs and 



