20 THE SAXON MERINO. 



at 14 lbs., and the ewes' 10 lbs., in the grease. By washing 

 they would be reduced half, thus giving 7 and_5 lbs. each." 



But the royal flock was already beginning to be out- 

 stripped by private ones in size of carcass and weight of 

 fleece, and now there are a very few choice flocks in France 

 which are said to average 14 lbs. of unwashed wool to the 

 fleece in ewes, and from 20 lbs. to 24 lbs. in rams, the ewes 

 weighing 150 lbs. and the rams 200 lbs. 



The Saxon Merino. — In 1765, three hundred Merinos 

 were introduced from Spain into Saxony. They, too, were a 

 royal importation, and were placed in government establish- 

 ments. It is imderstood they were selected principally if not 

 exclusively from the Escurial cabana. 



The course of breeding and management generally adopted 

 in that country tended to develop a very high quality of wool 

 at the expense of its quantity and at the expense of both car- 

 cass and constitution. The sheep were not only housed during 

 the winter, but at night, during all rainy weather, and 

 generally from the noonday sun in summer. They were not 

 even allowed to run on wet grass. Their food was accurately 

 portioned out to them in quantity and in varying courses; 

 their stable arrangements were systematic and included a 

 multitude of careffd manipulations ; at yeaning time they 

 received (and came to require) about as much care as human 

 patients. 



When introduced into the United States (1824,) the Saxon 

 lacked from a fifth to a quarter of the weight of the parent 

 Spanish stock in the country, and the latter were materially 

 smaller then than now. Their forms indicated a far feebler 

 constitution than those of the Spanish sheep. They were 

 slimmer, finer boned, taUer in proportion, and thinner in the 

 head and neck, — and shorter, thinner, finer and evener in the 

 fleece. The wool had no hardened yolk internally or externally; 

 was white externally; and opened white instead of having the 

 bufi' tinge of the unwashed Spanish wool. It was from an inch 

 to an inch and a half long on the back and sides and shorter 

 on the head, legs and belly. Medium specimens of it 

 measured about 1-840 parts of an inch in diameter. The 

 washed fleeces on an average weighed from 1} lbs. to 2 lbs. 

 in ewes, and from 2 lbs. to 3 lbs. in rams. There has been a 

 regeneration and improvement of this variety in various parts 

 of Germany, but an account of these changes would possess 

 little interest for the mass of practical American breeders. 



