25 



which the elements are found in its food.f It is also known 

 that cutaneous waste is proportioned to the extent of the 

 skin. The knowledge of these physiological phenomena has 

 been in Europe (in France and England more particularly) 

 the start-point of Zootechnical improvements, which have 

 led to the production of beasts of burden of great weight. 



In a more speculative line of ideas, though no less 

 important, rural economy proves the advantages of keeping 

 large animals. Why then, in the face of this generally 

 accepted fact, do New South Wales breeders persist in rearing 

 small animals ? Is it on account of an idea which is con- 

 siderably spread abroad, " that more vivacity and energy are 

 to be found in the smaller, than in the larger races," and that 

 consequently two small sheep can live on a space insufficient 

 for the maintenance of a larger wool-producing beast ; there- 

 fore that the nourishment of the animals should be improved 

 before endeavouring to increase their size ? These are 

 healthy doctrines, which are received in France, and are 

 taught t at the " Institut National Agronomique," to which I 

 have the honour to belong. But I fail to see in virtue of 

 what law of nature, animals (the issue of naturally strong 

 races, and owing the reduction of their size only to a 

 degeneracy due to careless acclimatisation) should be endowed 

 with a stronger, more vivacious and more enduring constitu- 

 tion than the races from which they are descended. This 

 reduction in size of certain animals has not shown itself 

 equally on all parts of the body ; among many the head is 

 heavy, and terminates in lips so thick that they cannot nip 

 short grass with the same facility as would animals of better 

 breed possessed of lighter heads and finer mouths. 



The end at which the breeders of sheep appear to 

 aim is the utilizing their runs as much as possible, principally 

 with a view to the production of wool ; they appear to prefer 

 a great number of wool-bearing animals to the merits of each 

 beast, and the quantity to the quality of the results. A desire 

 to over simplify matters too often involves negligence ; hence 

 the animals return almost to a state of nature, by which they 

 lose in a comparatively short time all the benefit they have 

 derived by the improvements already made upon their fore- 

 fathers. 



The financial results achieved by those who under- 

 take the breeding of sheep are certainly good, but they might 

 be made incomparably better by the exercise of a little more 

 exertion. 



The preceding remarks respecting rams are equally 

 applicable to the sheep comprised in class 647, and in the 

 sub-classes "Merino Fine Combing Wool (106, 107, 108); 

 Merino Heavy Combing Wool (112, 113, 114). 



tin comparison, be it understood, to its weight. 



