188 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



face, the skin also lies in loose wrinkles. The head 

 is coarse, and, in the male, usually surmounted by 

 large horns. The skill of the American breeder has 

 obviated some of these defects, and there are :i few 

 (very few) flocks claiming purity of blood, .\\liidi 

 have little or no jarr, and an almost entire absence 

 of the throatiness peculiar to this variety. Proba- 

 bly, however, in most of such instances, they owe it 

 to a cross with the Saxons. 



There are some other varieties of the Merino 

 which we shall not pause to describe. Taken col- 

 lectively, the Spanish rams, according to Chancellor 

 Livingston, yield about eight and a half pounds of 

 wool, and the ewes five, which loses half in washing; 

 making four pounds and a quarter the average weight 

 of fleece of the rams, and two and a half the average 

 of the ewes.* Some varieties considerably exceed 

 this estimate, and probably it would fall short if ap- 

 plied to the prime sheep of any variety. In the cel- 

 ebrated flock of French Merinos at Rambouillet, the 

 average weight, exclusive of tag and belly wool, is 

 six pounds to the fleece. It should be stated, how- 

 ever, that both Mr. Livingston and Mr. Humphreys 

 assert, that the Rambouillet sheep carry more wool 

 than any of the Spanish flocks. f Col. Humphreys, 

 in a letter to the Agricultural Society of Massachu- 

 setts, even goes so far as to say " that the improved 

 stock of France yield twice as much wool as those 

 of Spain/' Some carefully selected small flocks in 

 this country, which were "salved"! after the pre- 

 ceding shearing, have averaged, including the ordi- 

 nary number of rams, four and a half pounds of wool 

 to the head. The gummy, thick wool of the Merino 

 can be but imperfectly cleansed on the back of the 

 animal, where it is the universal custom in the Uni- 



* Essay on Sheep, p. 39. 

 f Livingston's KSSHV, p. 71, and note. 

 J Uuboed over with a salve consisting of oil, wax, &.C., 

 which adds to the weight of fleece. 



