EAST OF THE AIISSISSIPPI EIVEE. 227 



of pure breed belonging to tlie Elector in 1800 was 3,400, and 500 were 

 sold annually at public sale, a number not suiHcient to meet the demand, 

 though in addition to those of the Electoral flock it was easy to procure 

 good pure-bred sheep from private individuals. 



Lasteyiie, who visited Saxony in 1799, and to whom the world is in- 

 debted for nearly all that is known about European sheep husbandry 

 at the beginning of the present century, says that he observed several 

 flocks belonging to private individuals and found that the pure breeds 

 and also those formed by cross-breeding gave wool of the first quality. 

 These animals were generally smaller and of bad shape. The dif- 

 ferences depended on the quantity and quality of food given to the 

 sheep in the different folds. There were, it is true, degenerate breeds, 

 but that degeneration was from bad coupling, want of care, from the 

 insufQciency and the bad quality of food, and from the unhealthfulness 

 of the stables, where, following the customs of the country, the dung 

 was left for a whole year. 



The Government, having given particular attention to the improve- 

 ment of breed and learning by experience that flocks of the Spanish 

 breed degenerated when they were too much neglected, applied itself 

 to instructing the growers by forming schools for the shepherds and 

 widely spreading writings for the guidance of the countrymen on the 

 treatment of sheep. It wisely considered that it was its duty and its 

 interest to give these helps to agriculture. It felt that these helps 

 should be given every time that the people had neither the means, 

 knowledge, nor force of will necessary in new and difficult enterprises, 

 and the recompense was ample in the great improvement that followed. 



The course of breeding adopted by the Saxon sheep-masters tended 

 to develop an extreme fineness of wool at a material sacrifice of other 

 properties. The best were reserved for propagating the race, and by 

 this means the characters which indicate the property of producing 

 fine wool were maintained or increased in the progeny. The care with 

 which this system was pursued was the main cause of that unrivaled 

 excellence to which the fine-wooled sheep of Saxony attained; but, as 

 just remarked, this course of breeding was at the expense of other 

 qualities. Size of carcass, weight of fleece, and constitutional vigor 

 were rapidly diminished. The loss of hardiness was met by an extreme 

 care of the animal, extending to those minute and methodical arrange- 

 ments so congenial to the spirit of German agriculture, and which were 

 rendered economically practicable by the cheapness of labor. It is 

 proper here to note the methods employed by those in charge of the 

 Electoral farms, and by others, in raising these sheep to such a high 

 degree of perfection as fine-wool producers. 



It was endeavored, as far as soil and climate permitted, to treat the 

 Merino sheep just as they were treated in Spain. On one point, how- 

 ever, a departure from the Spanish custom prevailed. It was generally 

 believed in Saxony and other parts of Germany, as well as in Holland, 



