The Shepherds'' Guide, 3 1 



persons had degenerated j whilst those flocks 

 >vhich were kept by careful breeders had preserv- 

 ed all their primitive excellence : that he had made 

 the same observation in Germany and in Hol- 

 land ; and that his opinion had been confirmedby 

 the best agriculturalists in those countries. That 

 even in Spain, the Merino had been known to de- 

 generate from similar causes, and that he had 

 seen flocks in that country, as well as in Sweden, 

 producing wool of a very inferior quality. He 

 therefore thus concludes : " Let me advise those 

 who adopt the Merino race, to guard themselves 

 against an opinion that it will preserve the excel- 

 lence of its fleece, if it is subjected to wrong treat- 

 ment, or abandoned to negligence and ignorance," 

 In stocking lands with sheep, as well as with 

 any other kind of animal, the variety of the crea- 

 ture must be adapted to the nature of the soil, or 

 v/e shall not get so great a return as the land is 

 capable of making. Deep and strong land is re- 

 quired for large long-wooUed sheep : on light land 

 they will constantly depreciate ; and all attempts 

 to raise them to profit, and in perfection on such 

 pastures will fail. On the other hand, light loamy 

 soils, hilly and mountainous districts, are fittest 

 for small close-woolled sheep ; and the quantities of 

 wool and mutton raised on such pastures, from 

 small sheep, will be made up in the greater num- 

 ber they will support. There can be no question 

 ihcrefore, on such soils, with regard to the profit of 



