258 [Assembly 



England, in this cross with MeriAo rams. If we succeed, they will 

 be highly valuable; if we do not make the wool so fine as we wish, 

 it can do no harm; these are heavy, hardy, thrifty sheep, good nur- 

 ses, tallowing well, and the wethers will fetch a good price for the 

 butchers. They clip according to quality, from 8 to 10 lbs, and even 

 more for sheep of. coarse long wool; they thrive well in ihe United 

 States, the wool did fetch 30 to 36 cts. per pound. These sheep 

 will do, and if the Merino wool should rule low and long wool high, 

 we can profit by the markets. This is better than being confined to 

 one sort of sheep; the wethers can be. sold to good purpose to the 

 butcher, without looking to sell them; as rams, they will sell also; 

 these may turn out the most profitable sheep of all. 



South Dovms. 



The pure improved South Downs, are a most beautiful sheep, they 

 make the best mutton in the world; the beauty of their forms will 

 always sell them; I strongly recommend a flock of these, one to be 

 kept pure, and as many ewes as can be, to cross with the pure Me- 

 rino ram, they are a hardy active animal, good nurses, working in- 

 dustriously all day for their food, tallowing w^ell, of medium size, 

 clipping 4| lbs of wool, half of the quality of pure Merinos. These 

 sheep will sell well; they come early to maturity; their wool has 

 sold for 40 cts. per pound. These sheep will pay well in wool, when 

 crossed with Merino rams, and can be made to clip 5 lbs; these are 

 sheep that suit everybody. 



All these three races of sheep I recommend, are expensive; besides 

 the cost of getting them here, and they say that people will not pay 

 for fine and expensive sheep; my firm belief is the merinos of pure 

 breed, will come to a great price; it must be so, they are so scarce. 

 By crossing after the fifth generation, the wool will bear fine as the 

 original pure buck; but the sheep themselves are of little value, ex- 

 cept for their wool. It is to be observed at the end of the term, if 

 you only cross with the Merino ram, you will have after a few years, 

 wool as fine or nearly so, as the parent ram if properly conducted; 

 but the sheep themselves are of no real value, and represent a small 

 instead of a large capital. The Merinos crossed on heavy long 

 wooled sheep as the Cotswolds, will not diminish the size of the animal; 

 the cross shortens the staple, but then it thickens it, and the fleeces 

 are doubled in value. I wish to correct by facts, a very erroneous 

 opinion current in the east, and that particularly with writers on 

 sheep, that our western herbage renders fine wool coarser; this is most 

 erroneous, and here is the proof. An English gentleman settled in 



