avd Extension of the Merino Breed of Sbcep. ^i^ 



■which appears to have all the requisite qualities of the fleece, may, in that view, be 

 used for generation equally with the best pure Merino, Of the truth of this 

 position I shall, hereafter, adduce many satisfactory proofs. 



M. Pictet prefers putting his ewes to the ram during their first heats; wliich 

 happen, with him, about the beginning of July. In this manner the lambs fall in 

 December; and the ewes are fed in the house from a month before yeaning till 

 spring, with lattermath hay of lucerne and clover, and a handful or two of oats each 

 every day. This food is said to give them abundance of milk. 



In order to increase the growth of his lambs, which he considers as a point the 

 most essential to the size and form of the adult animal, M. Pictet gives each of 

 them, night and morning, from the age of three months till the sime of weaning, a 

 handful of bran, and half a handful of oats; and, afterwards, double that quantity, 

 till tbey are eight months old. At five months he weans them, gradually, by first 

 separating them from the ewes at night only. If, at the time of weaning, there is 

 not abundance of healthy grass, he supplies this defect by hay or lucerne. 



He folds his sheep at night upon his arable land, during five or six months of the 

 fine season, where they feed, during the day, on the fallows, the stubbles, or natural 

 and artificial grasses. He gives them also the leaves and tender branches of the 

 underwood of ash, poplar, and oak, which is cut in the autumn for fire-wood, and, 

 after being stripped by the sheep, is made up into faggots. 



A very long and minute set of directions, for shepherds, has been compiled from 

 the works of Daubenton, and published in P'rance, with illustrative plates by Gil- 

 bert, under the title of " Instruction pourles Bcigers." This book, though con- 

 taining much useful information to beginners, which might well serve as an example 

 worthy of imitation by some competent writer in this country, abounds with 

 puerilities, which have not escaped the lash of the French critics themselves. 



According to Count Alexis OrlofF, some Merino sheep have been introduced 

 into Russia ; but we are not informed of the result *. 



With regard to this breed at the Cape of Good Hope, I am favoured with the 

 following particulars by Sir George Yonge, late governor of that colon), while in 

 the possession of the English. According to that gentleman, the native sheep have 

 broad tails, which, on examination, prove to be double, united together by a thin 

 membrane, and covered with one skin, so as to appear single. Having mvself 

 • Communications to tlie Board of Agriculture, vol. i p. 346. 



VOL. V. 3 I 



