92 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP 



Spain exports annually about nine million pounds of 

 wool. It is a matter of history that countries which export 

 wool are proportionately deficient in civilization, as may be 

 easily thought when we realize the fact that we import about 

 as much as our whole product, and France imports a large 

 quantity to supply its population with the necessities of a 

 high civilization. 



SHEEP OF THE PYRENEES. 



Germany has twenty-eight million sheep, some parts of 

 it exceeding the average number per square mile existing in 

 Great Britain, viz., three hundred. It imports a large quantity 

 of wool for its extensive manufactures. The system of herd- 

 ing sheep on the poor land only has the effect o< seriously cur- 

 tailing the value of this interest, and the native grown wool is 

 of the inferior qualities. But many of the rich land owners 

 possess valuable flocks, especially of the small breeds of 

 Merinos whose fleeces are exceedingly fine but of light 

 weight. 



Italy still preserves the ancient fashion of migratory 

 flocks; the sheep so kept are of the Merino variety, of which 

 the largest number make up a majority of the seven million 

 possessed by this nation. In the mountains there are a 



