152 Essay on Sheep. 



as they now are. But if a contrary senti- 

 ment should prevail, then I think the bounty 

 should be given upon worsteds, serges, and 

 blankets; because this would turn to its proper 

 use that long wool which is misapplied in the 

 making of cloth. 



In Sweden the Merino sheep were intro- 

 duced in 1723; they at once became a national 

 object, and a bounty of twenty-five per cent, 

 was paid upon the value of the wool to the 

 grower, which was continued to 1781, when 

 it was reduced to fifteen per cent, and in 1792 

 it was suppressed ; Sweden then possessing up- 

 wards of 100,000 full-bred Merinoes, and be- 

 ing able to supply all her own wants without 

 any importation from Spain; and what is very 

 extraordinary, the sheep have undergone no 

 change for the worse in the space of upwards 

 of eighty years; though perhaps Sweden is of 

 all the cultivated countries I know, least calcu- 

 lated for sheep; the length of the days during 

 its short summer parches its barren fields, and 

 for seven months it is buried in snow. They 

 shear in July, and the average weight of a 

 ewe's fleece, when washed, is three pounds. 

 They keep up the Spanish practice of giving 

 salt, particularly in wet weather. 



To those who are unacquainted with Spanish 



