93 EUROPEAN SHEEP. 



PRUSSIAN SHEEP. 



Until the middle of tte 18th century, no attempts had been 

 made either by individuals or the Prussian government to 

 ameliorate the quality of the native sheep, which are repre- 

 sented to have been of a very inferior character. The first 

 move towards their reformation was made by Mr. Fink, dis- 

 tinguished as an enterprising agriculturist, and his enthu- 

 siasm in sheep-husbandry. His first effort was to obtain 

 the Silesian native breed, which had long been celebrated 

 for the comparative fineness of their wool. Some improve- 

 ment was efiected, but he was not satisfied, and became 

 seized with the mania — ^then common in Germany — for 

 Merinos, and accordingly imported a number of superior 

 animals of this breed, direct from Spain. His success in 

 naturalizing them to the climate, and wonderful improve- 

 ment accomplished by them to his native flocks, attracted 

 the attention of the Prussian government. Frederick H., in 

 1786, imported one hundred rams and two hundred ewes 

 from Spain ; but, says Mr. Youatt, " illustrative of the dif- 

 ference in result when an organized plan is conducted by 

 one acquainted with all its details, and whose heart is in the 

 affair, and when it is committed to those who know and care 

 little about it, the greater part of the sheep that were dis- 

 tributed in the neighborhood of Berlin perished by Various 

 diseases ; those that were sent to distant farms in the coun- 

 try degenerated, and the advantage was far from commen- 

 surate with the expense." 



The monarch, however, did not despair. Mr. Fink was 

 commissioned by the government to purchase a flock of one 

 thousand of the choicest Merinos ; and a school was estab- 

 lished to instruct in their management, at the head of which 

 he was wisely placed. As a proof of the extent to which 

 he improved his own flocks, it is stated on the authority of 

 Lasteyrie, who had an opportunity of examining them, "that 

 the sheep are less than the Merinos of Spain, but are by no 

 means inferior to them in perfections of fleece. Before the 

 improvements had taken place the native breeds produced 

 wool that sold from 5d. to 8d. per lb., but now, improved 

 by the use of Spanish rams, it sells from 2s. to more than 

 3*. sterling per lb." 



A brief sketch of his system of management ma^ not be 

 unacceptable to the reader ; valuable, principally, as it illus 



