PREFACE. 



laborious and discriminating comparison of facts and authorities t<i 

 illustrate its uses and its value, and by that fulness of personal ex- 

 perience in the breeding and management of the various races^ " in 

 sickness and in health," which constitute the excellence of these let 

 tera to Col. Allston. 



Under all these circumstances, the reader of the work here pre- 

 sented may well judge how fortunate that it should have been under- 

 taken, con amove, by a gentleman so well prepared by general scholar- 

 ship, by exact practical knowledge, and by extensive inquiry into the 

 mercantile and manufacturing, as well as the agricultural bearings of 

 the question. 



It is due, however, no less in justice to ourselves than to truth, to 

 add, that in urging him to undertake it, we had no idea of committing 

 the author to such an amount of labor, even had we forcsc?n that 

 being, as he says, a " labor of love," it would have thus ended in pro- 

 ducing, as in our judgment it has, decidedly, the best work on the sub- 

 ject of Sheep, that has at any time appeared in our country. 



May we not refer, for the soundness of this opinion, as well to 

 its originality and strictly American character, as to the comprehen- 

 siveness with which it presents the subject in its various relations, in- 

 structive alike to the merchant, the manufacturer, the political 

 inquirer, and the legislator ; as to the practical farmer ? Nor is it to 

 be characterized alone by its utility in these respects ; for the reader 

 will agree with us that its entire fairness and freedom from narrow 

 views and local prejudices, much enlarge, in a moral and instructive 

 view, its title to general confidence and favor. 



Finally, as far as the public judgment may be anticipated in refer- 

 ence to a production originally appearing disadvantageously, in de- 

 tached parts, and not until now finished and embodied ; if we may 

 conclude from the favorable manner in which such portions have been 

 reviewed and recommended, by some of the leading journals of the 

 country, the writer may well felicitate himself on having rendered a 

 most acceptable service not only to his brother farmers, but to his 

 countrymen generally ; while we may unaffectedly, and, as we think, 

 confidently add, it establishes for Col. Randall himself a claim to stand 

 in front of those whose pens, some of them under high motives of 

 patriotism, have been engaged in illustrating one of the most impor- 

 tant of all our industrial pursuits; nay, one which may be conjiderod 

 Miential, in an eminent degree, to our national independence. 



J. S SKINNEE. 



