176 SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



designs, and to improve her works according to her laws, and even 

 leaves room for and invites the exercise of skill and diligence, but 

 will not be crossed in her path or permit things which she has 

 ordained to be distinct, each with its nature adapted to peculiar cir- 

 cumstances and ends, to be mingled up with any hope of forming a 

 new organization better in all respects than she had designed. 



In England, the South-down sheep is infinitely improved in all 

 that can give it value, except the grain and flavour of the mutton, 

 which time immemorial has been esteemed superior, but that has 

 been accomplished, not by mingling with it the blood of any other 

 family, but by selection and care in breeding and feeding. The de- 

 scription of the different breeds of sheep will be confined to those 

 which it is known have been imported into the United States in such 

 numbers as to give latitude of choice to those who may propose to 

 look to the rearing of sheep as an object more worthy of attention 

 than it has been hitherto generally regarded — and first of the Spanish 

 Merino. This is the head spring of all the known flocks of fine- 

 woolled sheep. While their name would indicate that they were 

 imported into Spain from beyond sea, their exportation from that 

 country was strictly prohibited for ages, until as late as 1765, by 

 special license from the King, two hundred were sent to the Elector 

 of Saxony, where, according to the best authority, Mr. Jarvis of Ver- 

 mont, they were made an object of government attention. A board 

 of scientific agriculturists was appointed to draw up rules and direc- 

 tions for their management, and to disseminate the breed throughout 

 the electoral dominions. Woollen manufactures were likewise en- 

 couraged, and the good elfects of this wise policy, says Mr. Jarvis, 

 soon became apparent, in the increased wealth of the country, and 

 the amelioration of the condition of all classes of society. He adds, 

 when the merino was first introduced into Saxony, that State, and all 

 the rest of Germany, were dependent upon England and France for a 

 supply of a considerable part of their woollen goods ; but at this time 

 Saxony, as well as several other States of Germany, manufacture all 

 the woollen goods that are necessary for their consumption ; in addi- 

 tion to which Saxony now exports a considerable amount of woollen 

 goods annually, and the rest of Germany an immense amount of 

 wool. Mr. Jarvis is of opinion that while, owing to the different 

 systems of management that prevail, the Saxony descendant of the 

 Spanish sheep lias become more and more tender and infirm of con- 

 stitution, its fleece has been certainly somewhat improved in this 

 country ; and in reference to the suitableness of our own country to 

 the growth of the finest wool, he says, — "About six years ago I 

 compared my merino wool with fifteen or twenty samples of the 

 Paiilar flock that had been sent me from Spain where I purchased, 

 and eight of the ten judges who examined the tw^o, gave a decided 

 'prrfercnce to that taken from the hacks of my shcepy lie goes on to 

 say, — " Mr. James Shepherd, who carried on the factory at North- 

 ampton, and who purchased my merino wool for several years, told 



