wool alone, which is manufactured into a coarse species of cloth for the consumption of the inhabitants. Their flesh is rarely eaten. The miserable and arbitrary policy which prevails in these islands, the system of short leases, and the absence of practicable roads, sufficiently account for the wretched state of sheep-husbandry, and of agriculture generally*.

THE SAXON SHEEP.

The Elector of Saxony ranks among the first who patriotically and wisely devoted himself to the improvement of the inferior breed of sheep which pastured on the neglected plains of Germany. The indigenous Saxon breed resembled that of the neighbouring states: it consisted of two distinct varieties, one bearing a wool of some value, and the other yielding a fleece applicable only to the coarsest manufactures.

In 1765, at the close of the Seven Years' war, the Elector imported one hundred rams and two hundred ewes from the most improved Spanish flocks, and placed a part of them on one of his own farms in the neighbourhood of Dresden; this portion he kept unmixed. He endeavoured to ascertain how far the pure Spanish breed could be naturalized in Saxony. The other part of the flock was distributed on other farms, and devoted to the improvement of the Saxon sheep.

It was soon sufficiently evident to the enlightened agriculturist, that the Merinos did not degenerate in Saxony; many parcels of their wool were not inferior to the choicest fleeces of Leon. The best breed of the native Saxons was also materially improved. The prejudice against every innovation on the practice of their ancestors was, however, as strong in Saxony as elsewhere, and the majority of the sheep-masters were still averse to the improvement; but the Elector was determined to accomplish his object: he imported an additional number of the Spanish sheep, and then, adopting a measure unworthy of such a cause, he compelled those who occupied land under him to buy a certain number of the Merino sheep.

It was not necessary long to pursue this compulsory system: the most prejudiced were soon brought to perceive their true interest. The pure Merino breed rapidly increased in Saxony; it became perfectly naturalized; nay, after a considerable lapse of years the fleece of the Saxon sheep began not only to equal the Spanish, but to exceed it in fineness and in manufacturing value.

By referring to page 155, it will be seen that a sample of picklock Merino wool was ths of an inch in diameter, and exhibited 2560 serrations in the space of an inch; while the Saxon wool (see page 89) was onlyth of an inch in diameter, and presented 2720 serrations of an inch. Corresponding with this, and most satisfactorily illustrative of the account which has been given of the structure of the fibre of wool and its felting property, and manufacturing value as dependent on that structure, the price-the true test of value-of the best Leonese Spanish wool in 1834, varied from 2s. 6d. to 4s., while that of the Saxon wool was from 4s. 9d. to 5s. 3d. per lb.

The government of Saxony very materially contributed to this result by the establishment of an agricultural school, and other minor schools for shepherds, and by distributing certain publications which plainly and intelligibly explained the value and proper management of the Merino sheep. The governm t of a country may fail to accomplish many capricious or tyrannical o ets, but it will receive its best reward in the full accomplishment its purpose, when it thus identifies itself with the best interests of

subjects.

*Boyd's Azores, p. 42.

The above is a portrait of a Saxon Merino ram, the property of Lord Western, and used by him extensively and beneficially in the improvement of his Spanish Merinos. It will be seen that his frame differs materially from the Spanish Merino: there is more roundness of carcase and fineness of bone, and that general form and appearance which indicate a disposition to fatten, and are tolerably certain pledges that the carcase will not be entirely sacrificed to the fleece *.

In Saxony, as in Silesia, although the sheep are housed at the beginning of winter, yet they are turned out and compelled to seek, perhaps under the snow, a portion of their food whenever the weather will permit; and the season must be unusually inclement in which they are not driven into the courts at least for two or three hours during the middle of the day. The doors and the windows also are frequently opened, that the sheep-houses may be sufficiently ventilated. Some sheep-masters, whose convenience is promoted by such a system, keep their flock in the house or the yard. during the whole of the year, and it is not believed that the sheep suffer from this either in their health, or in the fineness of their fleece. A great quantity of salt is usually given to the Saxon sheep, and principally during the summer, either in their drink or sprinkled among the fodder.

Very great care is taken by the Saxon sheepmaster in the selection of the lambs which are destined to be saved in order to keep up the flock: there is no part of the globe in which such unremitting attention is paid to the flock. Mr. Charles Howard, in a letter with which he favoured the author, says, that "when the lambs are weaned, each in his turn is placed upon a table that his wool and form may be minutely observed. The finest are selected for breeding and receive a first mark. When they are one year old, and prior to shearing them, another close examination.

* It has, however, been strangely asserted by Mr. Trimmer, that while by the constant "confinement of the sheep in winter in houses the wool has become delicate, the sheep have degenerated into a puny, weak race, producing only half the weight of wool and mutton which the parent Merino stock from which they sprung yielded!"-See Trimmer's Practical Observations, p. 3.

of those previously marked takes place: those in which no defect can be found receive a second mark, and the rest are condemned. A few months afterwards a third and last scrutiny is made; the prime rams and ewes receive a third and final mark, but the slightest blemish is sufficient to cause the rejection of the animal. Each breeder of note has a seal or mark secured to the neck of his sheep, to detach or forge which is considered a high crime, and punished severely."

THE PRUSSIAN SHEEP.

In most of the states of Prussia, the wool about the middle of the 18th century was of a very inferior quality, and used only in the manufacture of coarse goods; indeed, the soil was naturally barren, and a great part of the land either lay waste, or was covered with water. A few of the Prussian agriculturists believed that their country was capable of material improvement, and struggled hard, and with variable success, in order to ameliorate it. Among the foremost was M. Fink, near Halle, in the Duchy of Magdeburgh. The sheep in his neighbourhood were even inferior to the usual breeds: their wool was coarse and not abundant; it was suited only for the most common and low-priced goods; and the carcase was far from being profitable.

He first looked anxiously for the means of improvement among the breeds of the neighbouring provinces. In 1756 he introduced into Magdeburgh the Silesian breed, which had long been celebrated for the comparative fineness of its wool. The Merinos soon afterwards began to be established in Germany, and the advantageous change which they had effected in the character of the sheep wherever they had been introduced, could not be disputed. Notwithstanding this, M. Fink was unwilling to give up altogether the breeds of Germany, and in 1768 he purchased some Saxo-Merino sheep; his flock was materially improved, but still his object did not seem to be perfectly accomplished, and in 1778 he imported some pure Merinos from Spain. He took as the guide of all his experiments that which is now received as an axiom among breeders, that the fineness of the fleece, and, to a great degree, the value of the carcase too, are far more attributable to the inherent quality of the animal than to any influence of climate or of soil. Uniformly acting on this fundamental principle, and being most particular in the selection of the animals from which he bred, he improved his own native flocks to a considerable extent, and he succeeded to a degree which he had not dared to anticipate, in naturalizing a still more valuable race of animals.

His zeal and his success attracted the attention of the Prussian Govern. ment, which at this time had begun to turn its attention to the cultivation of agriculture generally, and particularly the amelioration of the fleece. Frederick II. in 1786 imported one hundred rams and two hundred ewes from Spain; but, illustrative of the difference in result when an organized plan is conducted by one acquainted with all its details, and whose heart is in the affair, and when it is committed to those who know and care little about it, the greater part of the sheep that were distributed in the neighbourhood of Berlin perished by various diseases; those that were sent to distant farms in the country degenerated, and the advantage was far from commensurate with the expense.

The monarch, however, had in M. Fink a proof of the possibility of perfect success, and he persevered: other sheep were introduced. M. Fink was commissioned by the Government to purchase a flock of one thousand of the choicest Merinos; agricultural schools were established, and at the head of one of them was placed the most competent of all persons-the first improver of the Prussian sheep.

As a proof of the increased value of the Prussian breed, M. Lasteyrie, who had an opportunity of examining the flocks of M. Fink, says, that "the sheep are less than the Merinos found in Spain, but are by no means inferior to them in perfections of fleece. Before the improvements had taken place the native breeds produced wool that sold from 11 to 18 dollars per quintal of 100 lbs., (from 5d. to 8d. per lb.) but now, improved by the use of Spanish rams, it sells from 60 to 85 dollars per quintal," or from 2s. to more than 3s, per lb.*

The most ingenious and the most experienced men are liable to some inconsistencies; and M. Fink stoutly maintained two principles, which further experience in the breeding and management of the sheep has caused to be abandoned: first, that “ food of a good quality, be its nature what it may, does not alter the fineness of the fleece, but merely causes an augmentation or diminution of weight in proportion to its abundance or succulence, and the reverse." The change in the character of the British wool since the introduction of turnip-husbandry and increased attention to the weight of the carcase, affords an unanswerable refutation of this opinion.

He also asserted, that "breeding in and in will not produce the slightest degeneration ;" and yet, as if conscious that he was wrong, he changed his rams every third year if he could meet with animals that carried a finer wool, or even as fine as that already produced in his own flock. The influence of the system of breeding in and in, as it regards the sheep, will receive due consideration in the proper place.

A brief sketch of his system of management may not be unacceptable to the reader.

He properly maintains, that free exposure to the air is favourable to the quality of the wool, and therefore, although the sheep are housed at the beginning of November, yet whenever it freezes, and the ground is hard, even although it may be covered with snow, the sheep are driven to the wheat and rye fields, where they meet with a kind of pasturage exceedingly wholesome, and while they feed there they are likewise benefiting the crop. Nothing is more common than to see a flock of valuable sheep scratching away the snow with their feet in order to arrive at the short wheat or rye beneath. When the weather will not permit their being taken out, they are fed on hay, aftermath and chopped straw of various kinds. The kind of straw is changed as often as possible, and wheat, barley, and oat-straw and pease-haulm follow each other in rapid succession. The oat-straw is sparingly given, and the pease-haulm is preferred to the wheat and barley straw. Oil-cake, at the rate of six or seven pounds per hundred sheep, and dissolved in water, is also allowed when the flock cannot be turned on the young wheat.

Three or four weeks before lambing, an additional allowance of hay and straw is given to the ewes; and while they are suckling, a little oatmeal is mixed with the solution of oil-cake. When the weather will permit the turning out of the ewes, the lambs are still kept in the houses, and the mothers brought back to them at noon and night; after that, the lambs are not permitted to graze with the ewes, but are turned on the fallows or the clover of the preceding year; for it is supposed that they unnecessarily fatigue themselves by running with their mothers, and almost incessantly trying to suck, and that on this account they refuse the herbage on which they are placed, and take less nourishment than when quietly kept on separate pastures. A few barren ewes are, however, placed with the lambs for the purpose of guiding them, and perhaps teaching them to select

* Lasteyrie on the Merino Sheep, p. 166.

the best and most wholesome food. More lambs are saved than are necessary to keep up the flock, and when they are two years old they are inspected-one-third of the best of them are kept, and the remainder sold. The lambs are never shorn, in order that they may be better able to endure the cold and rain of autumn.

The Prussian sheep-dogs, like almost all on the Continent, are trained to obey the shepherds, and are skilful in guiding the sheep, but they never worry or bite them. There is no natural necessity for it any where; and if flocks are occasionally wild and intractable, bad management and bad treatment have made them so.

THE SILESIAN SHEEP.

The native sheep were small with long neck and legs, and the head, the belly, and the legs devoid of wool. In the districts of Namslau and Oels was a superior breed, so far as the wool was concerned. They were never folded; they were housed at night, even in summer; the sheep-houses were ill ventilated, and the dung removed from them only twice in the year. M. Lasteyrie, the chief, or in fact the only authority in these matters, describes the labours of Count von Magnis to improve the Silesian flocks. When he retired to his vast estates at Eckersdorf, on which three thousand sheep were pastured, he found that the gross return from them amounted to only 1200 dollars (2251.) He first attempted to improve his smaller sheep by crossing them with the larger breed of Hungary; but not succeeding in this to the extent of his wishes, he had recourse to the Merinos. He spared no expense in order to procure the best rams: he sometimes gave as much as a thousand franks for a single ram. He laboured hard to produce an artificial pasture on a tract of country that would hardly produce any indigenous plants, for on scarcely any part of his estates would the rigour of the climate permit any pasturage during six months of the year. As his power of supporting his sheep increased, he increased their numbers, until his flock became thrice as numerous as at first. In process of time the wool yielded by the greater part of his sheep would bear comparison with that found on the best of Spain, and at length exceeded it in fineness and in value; and in the course of a few years his returns were multiplied more than twenty-fold. For the purpose of the best manufactures the Silesian wool is almost equally valued with the purest and finest Saxony.

THE HUNGARIAN SHEEP.

The Empress Maria Theresa, witnessing the success with which the Merino sheep were cultivated in Saxony, imported three hundred of them in 1775, and placed them at Mereopail in Hungary. An agricultural school was likewise established by her at the same place; but for a considerable period her laudable exertions were not attended with the desired success. The native sheep, varying in different districts, all of them produced an inferior kind of wool, and had, from time immemorial, been strangely neglected by the farmer. The worst pasture was their lot; they were often half-starved; their winter-houses were unventilated, and the dung removed only twice in the year; and they were consequently subject to numerous and fatal diseases. The milk procured from the animal was the principal, and in some districts might be said to be the only, object of the farmer's attention; and the manufacture of butter and cheese from this produce of the sheep was more valued than the application of the fleece to the manufacture of cloth. It is not therefore to be wondered at that the expectations of the sovereign were disappointed.

The progressive success, however, of the Saxon sheep-husbandry began