Merino-Ryeland Breed of Sheep. 4^7 



opake whiteness, probably from its being more spongy, and less invelopcd in ilie 

 yolk, which gives the fibie greater transparency, and a yellowish tinge. In this 

 state the wool is brittle, and less fit for manufacture. 



If, however, a sheep be fattened to a certain degree, it matters not, with regard 

 to the wool, whether he have been fed on the grass of the Sussex Downs, the luxu- 

 riant herbage of the vale of Gloucester, or the turnips of Northumberland; and, 

 on the contrary, if a sheep be starved, his wool will become just as fine and weak 

 on cabbages and oil cake, as on the shortest and barest pasture. The only 

 difference is, that under the use of the grosser food the animal will be more apt to 

 fatten, and therefore will have a coarser fleece; while, on the short herbage of the 

 Downs, his utmost labour, in pursuit of food, will seldom be more than just suffi- 

 cient to keep him in moderate and healthy flesh; and, therefore, will not admit of 

 that deterioration of fleece, which attends obesity. 



There is no subject which more abounds with ill-founded prejudices than rural 

 economy. It seems to have been received as an axiom with regard to sheep, that 

 at a certain season of the year, a fresh shoot of wool takes place, and detaches the 

 old fleece, just as the adult tooth displaces that of the infant, or as the newly-risin^ 

 sap causes the dead leaf of the beech to fall. Whatever truth there may be in this 

 principle in our native breeds of sheep, it certainly does not extend to the 

 Merino, or such of its crosses with our breeds as I have seen. On this subject, 

 the French have made many decisive experiments. They have allowed the wool 

 of the Merino to grow, on the same animal, for two or three successive years, 

 without perceiving that it has any greater tendency to shed, than what arises from 

 its length, which natuially renders it more subject to the effects of mechanical 

 force. They have made the expeiiment in various ways; but in none more inge- 

 niously, or perhaps decisively, than by annually shearing half the animal length- 

 ways, and leaving the other half for two or three years unshorn. The total products 

 of the two sides being then compared, have been found very exactly to agree in 

 weight. Of the French wool so managed I have seen two specimens from the 

 Rambouillet flock ; one, which is in my possession, of the growth of two years, given 

 by Lasteyrie to my son. Dr. Charles Parry ; the other, of three years, lent me by 

 Mr. Drake. I also, in 1802, made the experiment for two years on the fleece 

 of one of my own Merino-Ryeland rams. These specimens are from six to 

 nine inches in length; and, after the nicest examination which I have been able to 

 VOL. V. 3 N 



