60 



being much superior in this respect to the heavier coarse* 

 woolled breeds, give him ample time and opportunity to repay, 

 with large interest, any outlay which may be made upon him. 



Now consider the question of food. Take any piece of pas- 

 ture-land and it will undoubtedly sustain three Merinos to two 

 Leicesters or Cotswolds— more likely two to one — estimating 

 the amount of food consumed to be in proportion to the weight 

 of the animals — and if the pasture is light it will probably sup- 

 port the Merinos well, while the Leicesters can hardly live 

 upon it. The Merinos will yield, according to the average of 

 the best flocks in New England, 15 pounds of wool ; — the 

 coarse-woolled sheep will yield 12 pounds. Fine wool is usu- 

 ally worth 50 cents per pound, while coarse wool brings 40 

 cents. We shall get, at these prices, from the land fed by 

 Merinos, seven dollars and fifty cents' worth of wool ; and from 

 that fed by Leicesters, four dollars and eighty cents' worth ; 

 and taking the unusual prices which now rule, in which coarse 

 wool brings 60 cents, while fine wool brings 50, we have seven 

 dollars and twenty cents as the produce of coarse wool, and 

 seven dollars and fifty cents as the produce of fine wool. In 

 one case, two dollars and twenty cents in favor of fine wool, 

 and in the other very unusual case, thirty cents in favor of fine 

 wool — at the present reversed prices. The calculation which 

 we have made here is based wholly upon summer feeding ; but 

 we think the deductions drawn from it will apply still more 

 strongly to winter feeding, in which our farmers are more 

 deeply interested. We are satisfied that the cost of feeding a 

 heavy mutton-sheep of almost any English breed is nearly 

 twice as much as that of feeding a Merino — granting, of course, 

 that the heavy sheep is to be kept in thriving condition. We 

 have compared the Merinos with Cotswolds and Leicesters, and 

 we might have added Oxford Downs and Shropshires — as these 

 are really the mutton-sheep which carry fleece enough to en- 

 title them to the name of wool-producers. 



The question will at once arise — whether the amount of 

 mutton produced by the various breeds of coarse English sheep 



