28 The Shepherds' Guide. 



land, that whilst the Merino, from better food and 

 more skilful management under their care, has 

 improved in shape, increased in size^ and obtain- 

 ed a heavier fleece ; he has uniformly preserved, 

 and in many instances improved the fineness and 

 every other excellence of his wool. In proof of 

 this fact, Dr. Parry produced a piece of cloth to 

 the Bath Society in the year 1 806, made from 

 wool of his Merino Ryeland sheep of the 4th 

 cross, which exceeded that made from the best 

 Spanish piles ; and this from sheep which had 

 been kept in high order for more than 12 months 

 preceding : nor are we without sufficient testimony 

 as to this point from our own experience. No 

 sheep can be kept in higher order than those of 

 Chancellor Livingston ; yet now after seven years 

 their fleece will bear a comparison with the finest 

 from Spain or any other country. On the other 

 hand, it must be confessed that Mr. Shepherd, a 

 very respectable English manufacturer of super- 

 fine cloths, and at the same time a skilful farmer, 

 contends that high keep will depreciate the quali- 

 ty of wool ; that from this cause his own half- 

 blooded Merinos had fallen off so much in four 

 ) ears, that at the same rate, in four more, it would 

 return to the quality of the maternal fleece : and 

 that after three years hard work, and high keep, 

 he saw a manifest depreciation in the quality of 

 the wool of a full-blooded ram he had purchased 

 from the King's flock. He corroborates his opin- 



