INTRODUCTION. 



J. HE Merino sheep furnishes the wool from 

 which all the superfine cloths of Europe are 

 made ; and without which, cloths equally fine, 

 supple, and elastic cannot be made. This fact 

 sufficiently establishes the great value and im- 

 portance of this animal, and renders it a very 

 desirable object to every country, in which he 

 will thrive, to procure and rear him. But until 

 the present revolution in Spain, all other coun- 

 tries have been in a great measure, and until the 

 beginning of the last century were wholly de- 

 pendant on that country for this necessary article, 

 arising from an opinion that the fineness of the 

 Merino fleece, and the softness and elasticity of 

 the wool depended on the soil, climate, and 

 pasturage of Spain, and the journies he was there 

 compelled to take twice a year in search of food. 

 This opinion was first put to the test of experi- 

 ment in Sweden in the year 1723 ; in the years 

 1765 and 1768 Saxony followed her example, 

 and since that period. Merinos have been intro- 

 duced into Prussia, Austria, many of the Ger- 

 man States, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Eng- 



