40 SILKSIAN MERINOS. 



" 7th. Their external color is dark. The wool has oil but 

 no gum whatever, they having been bred so as to make them 

 entirely free from gum — German manufacturers always insist- 

 ing on large deductions in the price of wool where gum is 

 found. 



" 8th. As above stated, the Silesians have oil, but no gum 

 like those which are sold for Spanish and French, and the oil is 

 white and free ; the wool does not stick together. 



" 9th. We have weighed five ewes. Three dropped their 

 lambs last month ; the other two have not yet come in. Their 

 weights are 115, 140, 130, 115 and 127 pounds; three bucks 

 weighing severally 145, 158, 155 pounds; one yearling buck 

 weighing 130 pounds; but this would be more than an 

 average weight of my flock when young and very old sheep 

 were brought into the average. My sheep are only in fair 

 condition, as I feed no grain. They have beets, which I 

 consider very good for milk, but not so good for flesh as 

 grain. 



"10th and 11th. For the first time my shepherd has 

 measured some sheep : ewes from 24 to 28 inches high, fore- 

 leg 11 to 12 inches; bucks, 27 to 28 inches high, fore-leg 12 

 to 13i inches. 



" 12th. We find the Silesians hardy, much more so than a 

 small flock of coarse mutton sheep that I keep and treat quite 

 as well as I do the Silesians. 



" 13th. They are first-rate breeders and nurses. 



" Some of these facts I have given on the statement of my 

 shepherd, Carl Heyne, who was one of Mr. Fischer's shepherds, 

 and came home with the sheep I purchased in 1854, and a man 

 whose honor and integrity I can fully indorse. 



" My sheep do not deteriorate in this country, but the wool 

 rather grows finer without any reduction in the weight of 

 fleece." 



In a subsequent letter Mr. Chamberlain wrote to me : 



" Carl has weighed a few more of our Silesian sheep, and 

 their weights are as follows: Four full aged ewes, respect- 

 ively, 120, 125, 107, 107 pounds; two ewe lambs, 90, 87 

 pounds ; two two-year old bucks, 124, 122 pounds ; one three- 

 fourths blood, 143 pounds. 



" I attended to the weighing and selection myself, and am 

 of opinion that our ewes from three to eight years old average 

 fully 115 pounds, say before dropping their lambs. Our 

 younger sheep do not weigh as much. Silesians do not get 

 their full size till four years of age, and after eight or nme 



