CROSS BREEDING FOR WOOL. 239 



This is consistent with reason, if we had not the experi- 

 ence of 2,000 years to support this common belief. Wool is 

 a product of human ingenuity and skill. The sheep is a gift 

 of nature as the wild fruits are, but the fleece is the result 

 of culture, as are the sweet and luscious fruits- produced 

 by the art of the grower. And it is all the more easy to 

 effect whatever pu^>ose may be desired in this way because 

 of the plastic nature of this most easily influenced animal. 

 One of the most prominent sheep-breeders of England once 

 said: "You may chalk out upon a wall a perfect form of a 

 sheep and then go to work and give it existence by means 

 of breeding and culture." The same is equally applicable 

 to the fleece as to the mere animal frame. Every existing 

 breed of sheep has been differentiated from the wild races 

 by human agency. More than 2,000 years ago the fine fleece 

 of the Merino was evolved by the painstaking culture of the 

 wealthy Roman proprietors of 'Spanish lands", from a native 

 race theretofore unheard of. But the demands of wealth 

 and luxury gave the impetus, to which the products of the 

 Ilcman matron's distaff and looms soon became accessory, 

 by which the luxurious imperial robes and soft attire of the 

 Roman ladies were derived from the ancient Merinos of 

 conquered Spain. And from that day to this the plastic na- 

 ture of the sheep has enabled the breeders from their chalked- 

 G-ut patterns to bring into existence the Electoral race 

 of Germany; the Naz sheep of France with their exquisitely 

 fine fleeces only 24 ounces in weight, and an inch or less in 

 length of fiber; as w r ell as the largest of its kind the French 

 Rambouillet with its 30-lb. fleece of wool 5 inches long. 

 And between these comes the American Merino, the best sheep 

 of its kind in the world, as the product of the best mind and 

 skill in the world, for in this no other country surpasses ours, 

 and this sheep has gene wherever Merinos are bred for the 

 improvement of other related races. 



Thus I hazard the statement, the result of long experi- 

 ence, and study of the sheep, and from the laws of breeding 

 that are accepted by all breeders, that the Merino must take 

 the first place in the crossing of all inferior breeds for the 

 production of the best wools for the staple manufactures 

 that come between the long coarse, and the short fine, 

 fleeces, and for which the demand is now greater than ever 



