THE SHEEP. 
43 
THE MERINO SHEEP. 
race, and by this means the characters which indicate the property of producing fine wool, are maintained or increased in the 
progeny. This is an application of the true principles of breeding; and the care with which the system is pursued, is the main 
cause of that unrivalled excellence to which the fine-woolled Sheep of Saxony have attained. The Sheep are kept in houses during 
the winter, and the general treatment of them, with respect to food, is adapted to promote the fineness of the fleece, the production 
of mutton being regarded as of secondary moment. 
Prussia followed Saxony in the same course of improvement. In the year 1768, M. Fink, near Halle, in the Duchy of 
Magdeburg, introduced some Saxo-Merino Sheep, and ten years later several pure Merinos from Spain. His endeavours to 
improve the Sheep of the country attracted at length the notice of the Prussian Government, and in 1786 Frederick the Great 
imported dnect fiom Spain 100 rams and 200 ewes of the pure Merino Breed. The greater part of this imported flock died 
near Berlin of various maladies; and those that were sent to distant parts of the country degenerated through the carelessness and 
want of skill of those to whom they were intrusted. M. Fink was commissioned to make a second purchase of 1000 pure Merinos; 
and agricultural schools were established, under the superintendence of M, Fink himself, for the instruction of shepherds, and 
for disseminating a knowledge of the method of treatment of the Sheep. These endeavours were successful, to the extent 
of improving, by the admixture of blood, the native races, and showed that the pure Merinos could be reared in Prussia without 
deterioration of the properties of the fleece. The animals are chiefly fed on hay, straw, and corn; and the same precautions are 
used as are necessary in other northern countries for protecting the Sheep from the inclemencies of the weather. A considerable 
number of Merinos of pure and mixed races are now produced in the Prussian States. The wool of Silesia, in particular, stands 
in the first rank, and has been made greatly to surpass that of the finest of the migratory Sheep of Spain. 
Austria early pursued the same course which had been followed elsewhere. In 1775, the Empress Maria Theresa 
imported into Hungary 300 Merinos, and established them at the imperial farm of Meropail. A school for farmers and shepherds 
was established, and printed instructions were issued regarding the nature of the wool, and the methods of treatment to be adopted. 
Subsequent importations were made, and now a large proportion of the Sheep of Hungary are either pure Merinos, or Merinos 
mixed in blood with the indigenous races. The enormous estates of the Hungarian nobles, whatever may be their effect on general 
industry, are well adapted to the husbandry of Sheep; and this country can now boast of wool equalling in fineness that of the 
mountains of Spain. In Bohemia, and almost all the other Austrian States, Merinos have been introduced, and every where have 
been seen to equal or surpass the parent stock. In Wurtemberg, Hanover, Bavaria, and other countries of Germany, the same 
means have been employed, with success, to introduce the Merino race. It has been carried to Denmark and Norway, to Poland, 
Switzerland, and to the dominions of Russia, especially on the Black Sea, where a climate exists calculated to bring every natural 
production to excellence. The Merino race has thus been naturalized over the greater part of Europe, from Scandinavia to the 
Crimea; and Spain can never more possess the monopoly of a production which had descended to her as an inheritance for so many 
ages. The experiments show that a certain class of characters having been imprinted on a breed of animals, these characters can 
be preserved under very varying conditions of soil and temperature, by artificial treatment suited to the ends proposed, and by 
selecting, for the continuance of the race, the animals in which the properties required are sufficiently developed. 
The Merino Breed, which had extended to so many countries of Europe, was at a period more recent introduced into the 
British Islands. George III., a zealous and patriotic agriculturist, resolved to make a trial of this celebrated breed on his own 
farms, and means were taken to obtain a small Merino flock. This was done clandestinely; the animals were selected from 
the flocks of different individuals, where they could best be got; were driven through Portugal, and embarked at Lisbon. They 
were safely landed at Portsmouth, and conducted to the King’s farm at Kew. The flock was bad; the selection had been 
carelessly or ignorantly made; and the animals being taken from different flocks, presented no uniformity of characters. It 
was then resolved to make direct application to the Spanish Government for permission to export some Sheep from the best 
flocks. The request was at once complied with; a small and choice flock was presented to His Majesty by the Marchioness 
del Campo di Alange of the Negretti flocks, esteemed to be the most valuable in Spain, and in return His Majesty presented 
to the Marchioness eight splendid coach horses. This flock arrived in England in 1791, and was immediately transferred to the 
Royal farms, while all those previously imported were disposed of or destroyed. 
On the first change of these Sheep to the moist and luxuriant pastures of England, they suffered greatly from diseases, 
and above all rot, which destroyed numbers of them, and from foot-rot, which affected them to a grievous extent. By a little 
change of pastures these evils were remedied; and after the first season the survivors became reconciled to their new situation and 
their progeny seemed thoroughly naturalized, and remained as free from diseases as the Sheep of the country. The wool was from 
year to year carefully examined; that of the original stock remained unaffected by the change of climate, while, in that of their 
descendants, little degeneracy could be detected either in its felting properties or fineness. 
M* 
