SHEEP. 



liorated mixed breed. SiRce that time many large flocks 

 have been imported from Spain, the temporary command 

 which the French obtained of that country having afforded 

 them facilities for their introduction. In the courfe of a 

 very few years France will, in all probability, produce a 

 fufficient fupply of fuperfine wool for her extenfive woollen 

 manufaftories. 



The experiments which have been made by the introduc- 

 tion of the Merino fheep into the United States of America, 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and New Holland, prove that 

 fine wool may be grown wherever there are intelhgent culti- 

 Tators, and that it is not the gift of a pecuhar foil or climate. 

 We are, however, fully convinced, that very elevated tempe- 

 ratures will require greater care to prevent deterioration. 

 The fpecimens of wool which we have feen from New Hol- 

 land, appear to have been affefted by an arid fandy foil, 

 and by the great heat of the fun, which has in fome de- 

 gree injured the foftnefs of the fleece. Between the 

 tropics, elevated motintains and (hade would be efi'entially 

 requifite to preferve a race of fine-woolled ftieep from de- 

 generating. 



The advantages which the Merino fheep poffefs as wool- 

 bearing animals, over the native breeds of Englifh fine- 

 woolled fheep, confift in three important peculiarities ; 

 ift, the wool is much finer ; zdlv, it is more regularly fine 

 over the body ; and 3dly, it is grown in a larger quantity 

 from the fame furface of fl'Cin. That the Merino wool is 

 finer than the beft Enghfh, is proved from this circumftance ; 

 the beft forted Spanifh wool, or the R wool, as it is called, 

 from the fineft flocks, fells at nearly double the price of the 

 beft Englifh forted wool, or what the wool-llaplers call the 

 prime and picked lock. Thofe Englifh fleeces which yield 

 a portion of the bell fort, generally contain a larger portion 

 of inferior forts : fometimes eight forts will be found in one 

 fleece,andthe fineft will not conltitute one-eighth of the whole. 

 On the contrary, the fleeces of the Merino fheep are fo regu- 

 larly fine over the whole body, as generally to yield from two- 

 thirds to three-fourths of the fuperfine or R wool. The fe- 

 cond fort, called the F wool, is alfo fine ; and with the 

 T wool, or third fort, bears a higher price than the belt Eng- 

 lifh wool. The quantity of wool on a Merino flieep is confi- 

 derably greater than on an Englifh fheep of the fame fize : 

 this is not owing to the greater length of the wool, but to 

 the animal being more fully clothed over the body and legs ; 

 and the wool is alfo grown clofer than on Eiiglirti flieep ; 

 that is, there are more filaments on the fame furface. A mo- 

 derate fized well-clothed Merino ftieep will yield a fleece which, 

 when brought to the fame ftate of purity as the Englifti 

 wool, will weigh 3lbs. A Ryeland, Norfolk, or South Down 

 {heep of the lame fize, will produce a fleece only weighing 

 about zlbs. The value will be nearly as five to two in fa- 

 vour of the Merino fleece. In this ftate, however, the Me- 

 rino fleece is not clean, as the wools imported from Spain, 

 which are fcoured after they arc fliorn, and before they are 

 forted, by which means it is much cleaner than it can be made 

 by wafliing on the back of the animal. The Merino rams 

 are horned, which is not generally the cafe with the ewes. 

 The average weight of a fat ram per quarter, is about 

 lylbs. of a ewe, about 1 1 lbs. /><■»• quarter. 



The fliape of thefe animals by no means correfponds with 

 the fymmetry of form which an Englifli grazier confiders as 

 the criterion of excellefiic?&. The legs are rather long, the 

 neck curved, and from the throat there hangs a pendulous 

 flcin, or dewlap, which is very ofl"enfive to thofe who are only 

 accuftomed to view the improved breeds of Englifli ftieep. 

 This appendage is valued in Spain, as indicating a tendency 



5 



to produce wool. The colour of the flcin beneath the woolj 

 on the back and fides, is of a rofe red colour : this is alfo confi- 

 dered by the Spaniards as a fign of a robuft conftitution, and 

 an abundant fleece. The only Englifh fheep which have 

 the fame coloured fkin with the pendulous dewlap, arc the j 

 Ryeland, which produce alfo the fineft Englifh wool. Thefe ' 

 circumftances, with the ancient praftice of houfing the 

 fheep, continued in Herefordfhire, where it is called cott'mgy 

 confirm the opinion before advanced, that the Ryeland flieep [ 

 were defcended from the Tarentine race introduced by the 

 Romans into this country. 



It is not to be wondered at, that the Merino fheep, which are 

 cultivated in Spain almofl exclufively for their wool, and 

 not for their flefh, fhould prefent that deformity of fhape 

 which at firft was particularly offenfive to the eye of the 

 Enghfh farmer, accuftomed to the new Leicefter and South L 

 Down fheep. There cannot, however, be a doubt that the I 

 Merino breed is as fufceptible of improvement as the Englifh. 

 Indeed there is a very great diverfity of form in the flocks 

 in diflferent parts of Spain ; and were the fame attention paid 

 to felefting the moft perfeft to breed from, as has been given 

 in England to the South Down flieep, there is every reafoa i| 

 to believe that a new race would be formed, pofTeffing all f' 

 the good quahties which both the grazier and the manufac- 

 turer might require. The South Down fheep, which have 

 been greatly improved, and rendered almoft perfeft in form, 

 have preferved all the good qualities of the fleece. This 

 alone is fufficient to prove, that there is no neceffary con- 

 nexion between deformity of fliape, and the finenefs of the 

 wool. 



The Spanifh breed of fheep were firft introduced into 

 Great Britain in the year 1787. Some individuals of the 

 black and fpotted fheep had indeed been procured, and 

 kept in the parks of noblemen previoufly, but without any 

 regard to the wool ; nor was much intereft excited by the 

 flock introduced in 1787. The fheep, however, lived, 

 though treated in the Englifli manner, and the wool had not 

 deteriorated. Thefe fa£ls having proved that the Merino race 

 might be naturalized in England, his majeity George III. 

 obtained from the marquis of Campo Alanjo five rams and 

 thirty-five ewes of the Nigrette race. They were imported 

 in the year 1792, and were for fome time at Oatlands, the 

 feat of his royal highnefs the duke of York. On their ar- 

 rival they were extremely low in flefh, but they foon began 

 to improve ; and the difeafes with which they had been af- 

 fefted, were removed by a plentiful fupply of food. They 

 left Oatlands greatly advanced in bulk, and with renovated 

 conftitutions ; and the quantity and quality of the wool were 

 greatly admired. 



The prejudices of the manufafturers were not fo fpeedily 

 to be furmounted, as the difficulties attending the naturahz- 

 ation of the Merino fheep. Though the wool was admitted 

 to be equally fine with the beft imported wool from Spain, 

 they would not offer a proportionate price, fearing that it 

 might not prove equally good, when raanufaftured. It 

 ought, however, to be ftated, that the condition in which 

 the Englifli Merino wool was offered for fale, either very 

 imperfeftly wafhed, or entirely in the greafe, prevented the 

 manufafturer from forming a juft comparifon with the wools 

 from Spain, which came to this country clean fcoured, 

 and regularly forted ; nor could they appreciate the lofs it 

 would fuitain in fcouring, which is not lefs than from 60 

 to 70 per cent. We are well perfuaded that this uncer- 

 tainty refpefting the lofs in Icouring has, more than any 

 other circumftance, retarded the fale of the Enghfli Merino 

 wool, from the year 1 792 to the prefent time. Nor will 



our 



