288 BREEDING AND CROSSING. 



fore, is one of the most essential points to observe. Mel- 

 lowness of skin, which indicates a fine fleece, and that the 

 mucous coat is filled with the unctuous substance, yolk, 

 which confers so much softness and brilliancy to the wool, 

 and protects its surface from the injurious action of the 

 weather ; hence in the male there can scarcely be too much 

 yolk, for a deficiency in the ram will cause too little in the 

 other classes of the flock, in which it is never present in too 

 large quantities, however abundant in the sires ; the eyes 

 should be bright, prominent, with a placid expression, which 

 indicates docility of disposition, a point always to be consid- 

 ered ; the horns should be large, and the spirals not too 

 short, and not too near the eyes ; the frame compact, but not 

 over large, neck thick where it sets on to the body, and 

 straight from the withers to the horns ; back short and hori- 

 zontal with the rump as possible, which is rare, however, 

 with the breed ; buttocks well protruded, and tail at its root, 

 not too wide ; the bones not too large, as they abstract nu- 

 triment, nor the legs too long. 



We will now consider briefly the points of the Saxon va- 

 riety of the Merino. 



The artificial value attached to the finest fleece, induced 

 the Germans to cultivate the Merino solely for this object ; 

 and so long as there are castes of society, and the highest of 

 these fancy that a wardrobe only of the finest texture is ne- 

 cessary as a means in part to support that distinction, so 

 long will the Saxon race be appreciated and profitably cul- 

 tivated. But when this adventitious state of society ceases, 

 the chief aliment of profit of the Saxon will cease with it. 

 The reader, however, will probably coincide with the writer 

 in the belief that that day is very remote, and therefore the 

 race cannot become extinct ; and in proportion to the increase 

 of wealth in our country, in that ratio will increase the demand 

 for the superlative material the breed produce. 



The true Saxon is of beautiful symmetrical proportions, but 

 not hardy ; a light fleece, but of such exquisite fineness of 

 texture as in some instances to be only the psVo^^^ P^^^ ^^ ^^ 

 inch in diameter, while the Merino rarely is less than the 

 Tjj^th. That tenderness of constitution peculiar to the German 

 Saxon is not present to the same degree in the American ;* 



* The writer lias now in his possession a ewe 12 years old, from the 

 flock of Major Grant of Walpole, descended from the Searl's importa- 

 tion, as fleshy and hardy as any individual of his flock. 



