) 



66 APPENDtX, No. IV. 



rJtj that could render any particular breed peculiarly 

 deiirable *. This wpuld, no doubt, require pains and a 

 careful fele£lion of the beft breeds, wherever they could 

 be found, and an attentive and cautious procedure ; but 

 no one can eafily imagine how much can be done by at- 

 tention in this refpe£l. Mr. Bakewell's fuccefs has been 

 already taken notice of ; and though my own experi- 

 ments on fheep were continued only for three years, yet 

 even in that time, I had feme wool that meafured full 

 half a yard in length, which was equally fine as the 

 befl Spanifh wool I could find, and greatly fofter than it 

 to the touch. I liave feen no Engllfli combing wool 

 fo fine as this was. If fuch were the eflfedls of only 

 three j-ears attention, in a lituation that did not admit of 

 an accurate ftclufion of diiferent breeds at the rutting 

 feafon, what might be expecled from a courfe of experi- 

 ments conducted on a more enlarged principle than I 

 could afford to attempt, in a place where an entire feclu- 

 fion of breeds could be eafily effedied, continued for half 

 a centuvy? No one can pretend to fay to what perfe£lio:i 

 we might arrive : But there is every reafon to believe, 

 that not only finer wool would be obtained, of every dif- 

 ferent qualicy that can be wanted for the various kinds 

 of manutaftures, in greater perfeclion than can at pre- 

 fent be found in any part of the world, and that along 

 with it might be conjoined every other valuable peculiarity 

 of carcafe or otherwife, that can render any particular 

 breed at prefent defirable. 



N- B. I have not taken any notice above of fome popular 

 flories commonly circulated concerning the breed of fine- 

 woolled Spanifli fliecp having been obtained from Eng- 

 land, or the breed of Engliili fheep having been obtain- 

 ed 



* See EITa)'? relating to agriculture and rural affairs, vol. li. difqui- 

 fition xxxix. where this matter is more fully treated than the limits of thife 

 effay permitted. 



