150 Essay on Sheep. 



sheep is of great importance, as it relates to the 

 community, the farmer, and the manufacturer, 

 and even to every class of society, who are more 

 or less affected by the cheapness and goodness 

 of a fabrick which all employ, as well as by 

 preserving a considerable capital within the 

 State, and affording employment to numbers of 

 indigent people, in whose happiness humanity 

 interests itself. It therefore becomes the duty 

 of the State to patronize and encourage them. 

 This has been done with a laudable zeal by our 

 Legislature: the premium upon the introduc- 

 tion of Merino rams has already had consider- 

 able effect ; the bounty upon cloth v/ill have a 

 still greater; for it will soon be apparent to the 

 people of every county, that the first prizes can 

 only be taken by cloth made from the wool of 

 the full-bred or mixed Merino sheep, and its 

 superiority will be presented to their eyes in 

 such form as to overcome the most inveterate 

 prejudices. They will see that all attempts to 

 make line cloth from coarse wool is lost labour, 

 and they will apply it to the use for which 

 alone it is adapted. They will change their 

 flocks as soon as possible, and as their wool will 

 become more valuable, and meet with a ready 

 market, they will find an advantage in increas- 

 ing their flocks. Good policy however would 



