D4, FINE WOOL SITEEP HUSBANDRY. 
tions of them, hereafter to be mentioned, were made 
about the beginning of the present century. But I 
cannot learn that all of the latter included more than 
a dozen living sheep on their arrival in this country. 
And it is probable either that these were soon mixed 
with the Spanish Merinos of the country, or else that 
they had not yet obtained established characteristics 
differing sufficiently from those of the latter to found 
a separate family. Atleast no family, bearing any 
resemblance to the present French sheep, sprung from 
them. 
The Saxon Merino. 
Though France took priority in the introduction of 
the emigrant Merinos, Saxony effected an earlier suc- 
cessful colonization of them. In 1765 Prince Xavier, 
administrator of the Electorate during the minority 
of the Elector, Frederick Christian, obtained the per- 
mission of his brother-in-law, the King of Spain, to 
introduce three hundred Merinos into Saxony, and 
other flocks on subsequent occasions. Itis understood 
that the sheep were principally drawn from the Es- 
eurial cabana. 
The course of breeding adopted in the Electoral 
and private establishments tended to develop an ex- 
treme fineness of wool at a material sacrifice of other 
properties. 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 
arrangements which are so congenial to the spirit 
of German agriculture, and which were rendered 
economically practicable by the cheapness of labor. 
