810 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IX TEXAS. 



arriving earlier at maturity — a matter of much importance in a muttOL 

 breed, but of comparatively little in a wool-growing one. 



Of the unimproved English and Scotch varieties, it is unnecessary to 

 speak. Several of them are much superior to the improved varieties o< 

 those countries in hardiness and herding properties ; but they all produce 

 coarse, and, compared with the Merino, light fleeces. None of them are, 

 in my opinion, really essentially superior for wool-growing to what is 

 termed the " native stock" in New- York and New-England. 



Spanish Merinos. — I shall not here consume space with the past his- 

 tory of any breed. The ancient Spanish sheep, as imported into this 

 country by Humphreys, Jarvis, and other breeders, whose character gave 

 full warrant of supposed purity of blood, produced of washed wool less 

 than four pounds in the ewes, and seven in the rams. The flocks of 

 Spain, taken as a whole, are declared by that most intelligent observer 

 and investigator. Chancellor Livingston, to have averaged of washed 

 wool, only two pounds and a half in the ewe, and four and a quarter in 

 the ram. (See Livingston's Essay on Sheep, p. 39.) They resembled the 

 present American Merino in form, but were smaller. 



Saxon Merinos. — The Saxon was the first great offshoot fi-om the 

 parent Merino stem. Partly from the principle of selection first adopted, 

 and partly from the system of management, and the special objects pur- 

 sued in breeding, this variety materially dwindled from the size, consti- 

 tution, and weight of fleece of the Spanish sheep, but improved in the 

 quality of the wool. The first considerable importation into the United 

 States took place in 1824, and the mania for these feeble little things 

 raged to such an extent, for the three succeeding years, that the most 

 miserable mongrels and grade sheep were introduced and sold under 

 their name. (See the authoritative and undenied statements of the dis- 

 tinguished German importer and shepherd, Henry D. Grove, on this sub- 

 ject, made to me as the chairman of a Committee appointed by the N. Y. 

 State Agricultural Society, in 1837, to report on " The condition and 

 Comparative Value of the several Breeds of Sheep in the United States." 

 Society's Transactions, 1841, p. 313.) 



The American Saxon of the present day is a ranch larger and stronger 

 sheep than its imported ancestor, with, I think, about the same quality 

 and a greater quantity of wool. Some pure flocks now produce an 

 average of nearly three and a half pounds of washed wool, and others 

 dashed with a strain of fine American Merino blood, not materially 

 changing the quality of the fleece, avei^age very near four pounds. It 

 continues, however, to require considerably more care than the American 

 Merino, and does not rear so large a per centage of lambs. 



SiLESiAN Merinos. — These appear to be something between the Saxon 

 and American Merino — heavier fleece than the former, finer fleece than 

 the latter — and between the two in size. Some specimens I have seen 

 had fine plump forms, and their wool the oil and external black gum of 

 the gummiest funily of Merinos. They might, I should say, prove a 

 desirable variety under certain circumstances, and I think a cross with 

 them would improve the Saxon type of sheep. They are the only Merino 

 family which I have not bred. 



FiiENcn Merinos. — The selection and management of the Spanish 

 Merinos in France, first carried into that country a little more than 

 eeventy years ago, produced precisely the contrary effects in several im- 

 portant particulars from those produced by the German system. Tha 

 carcass was made larger, the fleece heavier and coarser. But a portion 



