98 
FINE WOOL SHEEP. 
our farmers err frequently by cutting their grass 
too early , and their grain too late. If the former t 
be cut too early, the saccharine matter is not fully a 
matured, and it is consequently not so nutritious, c 
We usually allow the grass to be just going out of s 
flower at the time of cutting. t 
When the straw of grain begins to turn yeliow, t 
and the berry is full but not hard, is the best time s 
for cutting. Scarcely any loss will then take place c 
from shelling, and the straw is much more valua- ) 
ble for fodder. But as we gave full directions for i 
harvesting grain and hay in the July No. of Vol. L, i 
we must refer those of our readers seeking further i 
information on these topics to those articles. 
FINE WOOL SHEEP. 
Rambouillet Merinos. —Agricultural products 
of all kinds being so very low throughout the Union* 
it has become quite a desideratum on the part of 
the farmer, to know to what objects he can turn 
his attention, with the best prospect of realizing 
the surest and greatest profit from his land. We 
have thought, notwithstanding its unprecedented 
low price, that the raising of a superior quality of 
fine wool, especially on the hilly lands of the south 
and west, was now, and would continue to be, one 
of the safest and most lucrative branches of hus¬ 
bandry. We have accordingly so expressed our¬ 
selves from time to time in the pages of this jour¬ 
nal, and we hope that our readers will not be im¬ 
patient, if we continue to advert occasionally to this 
very important subject. 
By the census of 1840, we see that there were, 
in round numbers, twenty millions of sheep in the 
United States. On account of the prevailing low 
price of wool and mutton for the past three years, 
it is generally supposed that there has been no in¬ 
crease among the flocks of the country, and that 
they are now about the same number as in 1840. 
As in this number, lambs as well as grown sheep 
are included, it will be fair to suppose that but lit¬ 
tle over one half, or say eleven millions, are shorn. 
The average product of fleece in these, we think 
we may be safe in estimating at 2 1-4 lbs., which 
would make 24,750,000 pounds of wool per annum. 
The average value of this is probably 21 cents per 
pound, which would amount to $5,197,500. Now 
by producing a superior quality of wool, its value 
may be enhanced full nine cents per pound, which 
would be adding to the income of our farmers, no 
less a sum annually than $2,227,500, which in 
these times of pecuniary distress, would be felt as 
a very desirable and convenient increase to the 
earnings of agricultural labor. 
Where a mild climate prevails, there is no doubt 
but that the increase of a flock after all the fixtures 
are prepared for its accommodation, will pay the 
expenses of keep and attention, and that the wool 
shorn from it will be clear gain. Sheep also are 
the best renovators of the soil; that is, by pasturing 
them upon poor or wornout lands, they will re¬ 
store them to fertility sooner than any other kinds 
of stock; it therefore behooves the farmer and 
planter to consider, with these double objects be¬ 
fore them, viz., the profits of agriculture, and the 
improvement of the soil, whether they can do bet¬ 
ter as one branch of their business, than to keep 
100 to 1,000 sheep, according to the situation and 
the extent of their landed property. 
Mutton being but a secondary, and wool the 
paramount object with the American farmer, the 
best animals to start with, or make improvements 
on those already on hand, are undoubtedly the 
Spanish Merino. And here we have to lament the 
great deterioration in blood and breeding, of those 
hardy and inestimably valuable flocks which were 
imported direct from Spain by Col. Humphrey and 
others, from the years 1808 to 1811. These had 
scarcely overcome prejudice, and got well planted 
among us, than our countrymen, true to their char¬ 
acter, and despising pedigree and distinct breeds, 
and neither knowing nor caring for their value, 
and seized with the conceit that they could improve 
them by crossing , not only foolishly commenced 
mixing up these importations by coupling them 
together in all sorts of ways, thus making, to use 
a Spanish expression, a complete olla podrida 
(hodge podge mess) of the breeds, but in addition 
to this, as if it were not bad enough already, they 
must needs add by way of still further and more 
scientific improvement , crosses of the miserable 
culls and off-scourings of the open-fleeced Saxon 
flocks, imported by a band of mere mercantile 
speculators, in such numbers from the years 1824 
and on.* But thanks to the good constitution, 
strength, and fixed thorough breeding of the ori- 
• ginal Spanish Merinos, let the improvers do their 
. worst, they could not wholly destroy them; and 
there are still large and valuable flocks scattered 
‘ over the country, from which good ewes may.be 
r selected at a small cost, with which those disposed 
* to go judiciously into the rearing of fine wool, may 
1 commence with the certainty of starting as near 
> 
1 • For a complete exposure of these importations, see 
Mr. Grove’s admirable articles, Vol. I., p. 313 of the N. Y 
5 State Society Trans, for 1841. And for a capital commu 
3 nication on the subject of Merinos, see Examiner, p. 52 o i 
our May No. of current volume. 
