Merino-Ryeland Breed of Sheep. 487 



remains in the quantity of such wool imported. This deficiency would be sup- 

 plied by 1,200,000 sheep of the Merino-Ryeland breed, substituted for an equal 

 weight of the coarser-woolled ones now existing ; and if we suppose tliat the car- 

 case of the former is only f of the weight of the present breeds, then the number 

 of sheep which would require to be expelled, would be only 720,000. These 

 sheep giving, according to Mr. Luccock, 3^ lb. of washed wool each, redncible 

 one-fifth by clean scouring, will produce 1,872,000 lbs. ; which, added to 

 1,750,000 lbs. on the waste lands, will amount to 3,622,000 lbs. of coarse woo 

 clean, or 4,346,400 lbs. washed on the sheep; which makes less than one-eleventh 

 of the whole produce, taken out of the market, in order to admit 5,200500olbs. of 

 superfine, carried on an equal weight of carcase. 



I have already shewn that these 5,200,000 lbs, cost Great Britain, annually, 

 about £"1,560,000.; and if we reckon the produce of the native clean wool at 

 2s. 6d. per lb. * that will give/" 452,750. ; leaving in our favour, by such a substi- 

 tution, a balance of^" 1,107,250. per annum. How far this substitution, under all 

 the circumstances, would be beneficial to this country, let the reader determine. 



All the comparisons which I have hitherto made, lie between sheep bearing short 

 carding wool. It is in this respect, that, in my judgment, they ought chiefly to be 

 made; because the long wool of this island is its peculiar treasure, indispensable to 

 its manufactures, unrivalled, probably, by that of other European countries, and best 

 grown on rich and deep land. Let us, however, for the sake of curiosity, compare the 

 wool produce of my breed with that of some of the long-woolled tribe. From the 

 Annals of Agriculture, vol. xxii. p. 391, et sequent, it appears that an acre of 

 Romney Marsh land supports, at shearing time, a full average of four sheep. Now 

 we are told that, " the principal part of the soil," on which these sheep are kept, is 

 " a fine soft loam, with a mixture of sea sand ; and having lain, time out of mind, 

 " in grass, covered with sheep, both winter and summer, its turf is wonderfully 

 «' thick and fine; and the grass it produces is of a fattening quality, equal, if not 

 " superior, to any in the kingdom." We find, also, that the sheep when fat, at 

 two-shear, reach 24 lb. per quarter, and that the wool produce is estimated at 2olb. 

 per acre. These 20 lb,, when scoured, would be reduced to i6-|^lb. Now when 



• Which, value and weight of fleeces of all the English shoit-woolkd breeds considered, is 

 from f to I too great an allowance of price. 



