THE MERINO BREED. 149 



and little from the carcass, then he might cultivate the pro- 

 duction of the one in preference to the other ; but this is not 

 the case under the present circumstances of this cojuntry, and 

 the British farmer's interest is therefore different. He can- 

 not afford to shut the animals in houses for half the year, for 

 the purpose of protecting them from the inclemency of the 

 weather, in order that the wool may be fine ; nor to feed 

 them on hay and corn, in preference to the abundant roots, 

 herbage, and forage plants, with which the agriculture of the 

 country enables him to supply his animals. 



If individual interest does not admit of the cultivation of 

 fine wool in preference to abundant mutton, and the adoption 

 of a breed of inferior hardiness, early maturity, and fatten- 

 ing powers, so neither does it seem that the national interest 

 requires it. Spain, and other countries of Europe where the 

 fleece is more valuable than the carcass, are employed in 

 producing fine wool, and the extended commercial relations 

 of England enable her to obtain it, in the quantity which her 

 manufacturers consume, from all these countries. Even her 

 own colonies are now enabled to supply it in increasing 

 abundance. Is it not better, then, that we should trust to 

 commerce for the supplies of a commodity which can be 

 raised more cheaply than at home, and devote our Sheep 

 especially to the production of that food with which no other 

 country can supply us, contenting ourselves with a kind of 

 wool which, though less fine than that produced elsewhere, 

 is all required and consumed by the manufactures of the 

 country ? 



The most distinguished breeders of Merinos at this time 

 in England are Lord Western and Mr Benett, M. P. for 

 "Wiltshire. Lord Western's stock is either Saxon, or has 

 been crossed by Saxon rams ; Mr Benett's is pure Spanish, 

 and has undergone progressive improvement, by selection 

 of individuals of the same blood. The number of his flock 

 amounted at one time toTOOO ; but it was subsequently reduced 

 to 3500. It was treated in the ordinary manner of Sheep in 



