92, FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
sufficient to satisfy myself in regard to their respective 
qualities, I have preferred to go for testimony to 
others—to the principal importers and the most 
deeply interested owners and advocates of each 
variety—to those who, by common consent, have the 
vhoicest animals of each ever introduced into or bred 
in our country. 
It is true this affords a view only of the best ani- 
mals, but these are the ones which offer the most 
instructive examples, and there is no difficulty in 
judging from them downwards. 
The American (Spanish) and Saxon varieties were 
first introduced in large numbers, and will, therefore, 
be first compared. 
There was no time after 1885 when the prime 
American Merino did not exceed the prime Saxon 
Merino by at least one and a half pounds im the 
weight of fleece. The table of prices shows that 
before and subsequently to that period, the average 
price of Saxon wool was not more than ten cents 
higher per pound. Between 1831 and 1837, when 
Saxon wool was most remunerative, its average prices 
were from about 65 to 70 cents per pound. If we 
estimate the Saxon fleece at three pounds, and the 
American fleece at four and a half pounds, when the 
first was worth in the market $2.10 the latter was 
worth $2.70. 
The Saxon was a smaller consumer than its rival, 
because a smaller sheep. The production of flesh 
and other animal tissues from food, is a process regu- 
lated by physiological laws, which work substantially 
alike where breed, habits, and other circumstances are 
alike. The Merino consumes about one-thirtieth of 
