CHAPTER III. 



Blood — Wool — Carcase and age of the ram-*-^ 

 Number of ewes — Changing the rum — Season 



— Lambs Sucking- — Weaning—Castration 



— Docking — Markine; Washing- — Shearing 



— Sorting wool — Shearing lambs— Wool salv- 

 ing, &c. 



Breeding'^ ^c 



I 



.T being agreed that the great excellence of the 

 Merino, the fineness of his fleece, is peculiar to 

 this race of sheep, and is in no degree attributable 

 to the influence of climate or soil ; and it being 

 likewise an established fact, that the ram has 

 much greater influence upon the progeny than the 

 €we ; it becomes important to choose rams pos- 

 sessed of such qualities as we wish to propagate. 



And as the Merino has been found to trans- 

 mit all his excellence of fleece and carcase to his- 

 descendants so perfectly, that at the fourth cross, 

 no difference in these respects can be discovered 

 between the sire and his progeny ; a question has 

 thence arisen, how far it is prudent to breed from 

 a ram of the mixed breed, of equal or perhaps su- 

 perior excellence at a less price, tfcan from one of 

 the pure blood at a greater. 

 Dr. Parry;, who has carried the mixed breed t© 



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