Essay on Sheep, 63 



shorn. In France, from twelve to thirteen pounds 

 is said to be the average fleece of the rams 

 form the national flock ; but then their sheep are 

 very dirt}-, for the reasons I have mentioned. I 

 should also add, that the price of my Merino 

 wool has risen from one dollar and twenty-five 

 cents, at w^hich I sold when I wrote to Mr. 

 Custis, to two dollars. Since the hatters and 

 clothiers have examined its texture, forty-four 

 and one-half yards of fine close-wove cloth, 

 forty-five inches wide, as it came from the loom, 

 have been made from sixteen pounds and three 

 quarters of it. 



I have given these extracts from Mr. Custis's 

 valuable pamphlet, because I think it important 

 that the country should know its resources, and 

 be enabled to select a stock adapted to their soil 

 and to their wants. 1 cannot, however, agree 

 with him in sentiment (as far as I can form 

 mine from the sample he sent me), that the 

 Smith's Island wool can be introduced into any 

 of the manufactures in which the Merino w^ool 

 is used. It is soft, white, and silky, but neither 

 so fine or soft as the Merino wool. Mr. Custis 

 has, however, taken the proper method to as- 

 certain its value, by sending samples to Europe, 

 and will, I trust, furnish the public with the 

 result of his inquiries. I cannot omit this oc- 



