THE SHEEP. 
45 
THE MERINO BREED. 
breed of inferior hardiness, early maturity, and fattening powers, so neither does it seem that the national interest requires it. 
Spain, and other countries of Europe where the fleece is more valuable than the carcass, are employed in producing fine wool, and 
the extended commercial relations of England enable her to obtain it, in the quantity which her manufacturers consume, from all 
these countries. Even her own colonies are now enabled to supply it in increasing abundance. Is it not better, then, that we 
should trust to commerce for the supplies of a commodity which can be raised more cheaply than at home, and devote our Sheep 
especially to the production of that food with which no other country can supply us, contenting ourselves with a kind of wool 
which, though less fine than that produced elsewhere, is all required and consumed by the manufactures of the country ? 
The most distinguished breeders of Merinos at this time in England are Lord Western and Mr Benett, M. P. for Wilt¬ 
shire. Lord Western’s stock is either Saxon, or has been crossed by Saxon rams; Mr Benett’s is pure Spanish, and 
has undergone progressive improvement by selection of individuals of the same blood. The number of his flock amounted at 
one time to 7000; it was subsequently reduced to 3500. It was treated in the ordinary manner of Sheep in this country. Lord 
Western’s, it is believed, is managed more in the Saxon manner, with respect to protection from the weather. Mr Benett’s 
fine flock, notwithstanding that it had been thus acclimated, perished in great numbers in a severe winter some years ago, proving 
that the race had not yet lived sufficiently long in England to be perfectly inured to its cold and variable climate. Other gen¬ 
tlemen have imported Merinos direct from Saxony, and thus obtained at once the highest perfection of the fleece; but there is little 
reason to believe that their experiments will be more successful than those that* had been previously made. Merinos have been 
lately carried in some numbers to Ireland, and may perhaps prove more advantageous than some of the existing breeds; but this 
will not show the great value of the Merinos, but the comparatively little value of the races which they have supplanted. 
The Merino breed of Sheep has likewise been carried to a different region of the globe, and been subjected to a new set of 
external agents. The great insular continent of New Holland, presenting characters in its vegetable and animal productions 
which distinguish it from all other countries, has now received this important race, which has been found to adapt itself with the 
utmost facility to its new condition. The first European settlement in this remarkable country was made in the year 1788, when 
a party of English criminals was landed in Botany Bay. To supply the early colonists with wool and mutton, and establish a 
permanent flock for their future maintenance, Sheep were imported from Bengal. These were the small hairy animals found in 
that part of India. It was soon discovered that these miserable Sheep improved in their useful properties by the change of climate 
and food. They became prolific, the hair diminished in quantity, and a fleece of soft wool, though not of great fineness, succeeded. 
This simple experiment added to the many proofs before existing of the all-pervading influence of external circumstances over the 
form and characters of animals. The importation of Bengal Sheep was soon after followed by that of superior races from the mother 
country. Individuals of the Leicester and Southdown breeds were by degrees imported, affording the kinds which were wanted 
by the infant colony, namely, animals that should supply food rather than wool. This experiment was entirely successful, and 
the intermixture of the new Sheep enlarged the size and increased the economical value of the original race. The wool even of 
these crosses, notwithstanding of the most slovenly treatment on the part of their owners, was found equal or superior to the finest 
produced in the mother country ; and in twelve years from the first landing of the settlers, the Sheep of the colony had increased 
to upwards of 6000. The result of these trials, and the growing prosperity of the settlement, produced a desire on the part of the 
wealthier colonists to try the fine-woolled Sheep of Spain which had been introduced into the British Islands. A few of this race 
were obtained from England, and the result, like all the previous experiments, proved the admirable adaptation of the country to 
the rearing of Sheep, and in an especial degree to the production of a fine and soft wool. After a few crosses with the existing 
race, the wool produced was found to be nearly equal to that of the pure Merinos of Spain; and when the original race was pre¬ 
served without intermixture, the wool became more fine and soft than that of the same race in their native pastures. Merinos 
were now imported direct from Saxony, and this experiment likewise was successful. When the breed was preserved pure, the 
wool preserved its essential properties, with that increase of flexibility and softness which is the distinctive character of the Aus¬ 
tralian wools. Some of the wool of these Saxon Sheep, when it had been properly cleaned and attended to, brought the highest 
price of any other in the English market, and led to the belief that these rising colonies were destined to supply the manufactures 
of England with wool superior to that of any other country. These expectations were formed chiefly in consequence of the pecu¬ 
liar softness of these new wools, which fitted them to amalgamate admirably with the harsher wools of the country in certain manu¬ 
factures. But although the best of the Australian wools still sustain a high character, they are not found to equal the Saxon in 
fineness, and that peculiar property which fits them for the manufacture of cloth. This is indeed the consequence of the different 
conditions of the two countries. In Saxony labour is cheap, and an attention can be devoted to the improvement of the Sheep and 
their wool, which is impracticable in a thinly peopled country, where the want of labourers cannot be supplied at any price. Under 
such circumstances, there must be a rudeness of management inconsistent with the minute attention necessary to preserve 
