New York, at the present enormous prices. Sheep have been sold in this 
State, the present season, for from $15 to 830 per head, which are no 
better nor of purer blood than some of our best grade sheep. In some 
instances they are sheared as early as March or April, in order to show 
in September a remarkably long staple; and in others, the wool is left on 
the sheep about an inch long at the usual shearing time ; and in such in¬ 
stances affidavits are certain to be exhibited to dissipate any doubts as to 
the alledged time of shearing. The clip of one year’s growth of these 
imported sheep is better than that of some of our best grade flocks. 
Wool growers should be careful to select their best lambs for stock sheep. 
They should have particular reference to the shape of the animal and the 
quality, thickness, and bngth of wool. All these good qualities can be com¬ 
bined in a whole flock in three or four years, by proper attention in se¬ 
lecting out from year to year lambs suitable for breeders, as ‘ like begets 
like.’ It was in this way that the French Merinos became a distinct 
class ; and the wool growers in New York and Vermont are now making 
their flocks of Spanish Merinos yield from five to seven pounds of wool 
per head, whereas the same size and breed fifteen years ago would not 
afford two-thirds of that amount. 
“ It is not very uncommon now for a Spanish buck, weighing one hun¬ 
dred pounds, to shear ten pounds of well washed w r ool. There are in¬ 
stances where the Merinos have been made to weigh over three hundred 
pounds, and yield a fleece weighing over thirty pounds ; but such are 
cases where more time and expense have been devoted than would be 
found profitable, with larger flocks. They are kept housed and blanketed 
most of the time, and are not washed but often oiled over, so that it 
would be difficult to judge whether dirt or wool predominated. The 
probability is, that wool grown in this way costs more than a dollar per 
pound. Those who are breeding those large, or French Merinos, do not 
find a ready sale for them at home, (as the wool growers in Vermont 
generally adhere to the Spanish,) and are therefore compelled to bring them 
West, where men of smaller experience are struck with their beautiful 
appearance, and at once purchase them at enormous prices ; thinking 
that with such care as our sheep ordinarily receive, as beautiful animals 
can be easily raised. Experience, however, will teach them, as it has 
others, that sheep of medium size are the most profitable. 
