492 THE PRICE OP SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA. 
most marketable commodity. Yet some of our breeders 
foresee—and this result may safely be prognosticated—that 
owing to climatic causes the heavy fleeces of the English 
breeds will gradually become lighter. Indeed, the colonial 
bred animals from imported stock sold at Barw r on Park 
afforded marked evidence of deterioration, both as regards 
weight of fleece and size of carcase, and in these tw T o points 
contrasted strongly wdth the better developed and closer if 
not quite so long-w r ooiled cross-breds. On the other hand, 
it must be remembered that Victoria is the home of the 
merino, and the finest wool in the world is produced under 
the influence of our sunny and genial clime. Unfortunately 
the wandering propensity engendered in this breed through 
long years of shepherding, too often on but scant pasturage, 
to say nothing of its small frame, has unfitted the merino to 
meet the requirements of the cultivating farmer whose fields 
are small, and w'ho w 7 ould at times require to confine his flock 
within the narrow limits of a fold formed of twine nets or 
light wooden hurdles. The requirement of the times on arable 
farms in Victoria is a quiet, docile breed of sheep, combining 
all the best qualities of say the Lincoln, with those of Aus¬ 
tralian merino; animals possessed of sound, vigorous, strong 
constitutions—and this is a point of primary importance— 
yielding off large frames fleeces as heavy and wool as fine, 
long, and lustrous quality as is compatible with the climatic 
conditions of the country. They should possess the early 
maturing tendency and aptitude for converting a given 
amount of vegetable produce into the largest money profit 
w ? hich is one of the chief characteristics of the improved 
English breeds. Climate will regulate the length, lustre, 
density, and fineness of the fleece. Development of frame is 
entirely dependent on the quantity and quality of the food 
that may be supplied. As regards the capabilities of our 
climate to produce an abundant supply of food for sheep, it 
is in every respect infinitely superior to the climate of Great 
Britain. All that is wanted to develope the latent resources 
of the soil and climate in the production of animal food by 
human skill and industry is a breed of animals such as we 
have here delineated to convert the food produced into a 
source of profit to the cultivator. Does any incredulous 
reader, if one there be, smile at the idea of developing and 
fixing a breed of sheep, one in every way thoroughly adapted 
to the pressing requirements of the Victorian farmer ? Let 
such an one bethink him how the present so-called “ pure 
bred” Shorthorn cattle have been produced; how the breeds 
of sheep are at the present time being improved and adapted 
