Merino-Ryeland Breed of Sheep. ^^e 



point of fineness which the animal is capable of yielding. Sometimes their wool 

 evidently improves after the first year. The ram, part of vihose fleece is exhibited 

 as specimen No. 2, strongly illustrates the truth of this position. When he was a 

 shearling, his wool was far from fine, and so loose, curled, and irregular, that I noted 

 him in my book as unfit for service. The following year I found his fleece, in 

 every respect, changed. That which is exhibited, he carried last year, when a six- 

 tooth. I employed him pretty largely in 1804; hut he died before he had accom- 

 plished any part of his labours, in 1805. Upwards of 20 ram lambs of his produce, 

 now in my possession, bid fair to equal his excellence as to wool, with considerable 

 itnprovement of carcase : and though, from the irregular and trifling manner in 

 which I was obliged to begin my experiments, my sheep, at present, vary consider- 

 ably as to fineness of fleece, I have no doubt that, in three or four years, by means 

 of these lambs, my whole flock, of the original mixed breed, will have nearly 

 reached one uniform standard. Notwithstanding this instance, I suspect that more 

 frequently, under other like circumstances, the fleece becomes coarser from i-i to 

 2-1- years of age, and then, for some years, becomes gradually finer. 



With regard to the weight of my fleeces, it appears to me that my sheep, at 

 present, carry much the same quantity of unwashed wool as the native breeds of 

 Spain; proper allowance being at the same time made for difference of form. AVhat 

 I mean by this difference is, that my sheep having a rounder barrel, no throatiness 

 or dewlap, and a wider hind-quarter than the generality of the native Merinos, with 

 about the same, or probably a less, weight of carcase, have certainly a smaller 

 surface relatively to their solid contents or weight. If, therefore, the wool be equally 

 spread over tiiat surface, and the size, length, and specific gravity of the filament 

 be equal, they must have a lighter fleece. This principle of the comparative effect 

 of form I have observed to be very general, not only in my breed, but in the pure 

 Merino itself, and some others of its crosses j so that the uglier the animal, the 

 heavier, caeteris paribus, will be its fleece. I "may also mention another self- 

 evident principle ; which is, that if the number, length, and specific gravity of the 

 filaments in two fleeces be equal, the absolute weight must be proportioned to the 

 size of the filament; or, in other words, the coarser fleece will be the heaviest. 

 This is exactly conformable to the fact. I have observed the fleeces of the third 

 cross of ccitain breeds to be heavier than those of the fourth; the coarser ones of 

 the fourth to be heavier than the exquisitely fine ones ; and the descendants from 



