a satisfactory quantity of flesh. The sheep now produced in France, with this double destination, produce a wool of medium fineness, very much appreciated, and furnish for the butcher a return in flesh satisfactory in quantity and quality.

"The new merino," says M. Gayot, "is well formed; it grows rapidly; it produces abundantly a wool of medium fineness, but of a quality much sought for for the production of medium tissues, the consumption of which has a constantly ascending progression. It is easy of nourishment; it is more rustic and hardy than the foreign races; it fattens well, and at all ages, and furnishes a product in mutton which bears comparison with all others without disadvantage, and it is notably less adipose than the so-called perfected races of England."

The consideration last referred to will be appreciated in this country; the excessive fatness of the English mutton sheep, although not objectionable to the English laborer, being distasteful to American consumers. "No one can deny," says M. Des Farges, in 1863, "that the growers in France, who have made a good selection, and have had in view the double end of wool and flesh, have obtained as much precocity and weight with the medium-wool merinos as with the mutton races. I have seen a lamb of seven months, killed by accident, which gave a net product in flesh of 24 kilograms, and in tallow of 4.50 kilograms; the skin was worth about 8 francs. Another lamb of 93 months gave a product, in flesh, of 32 kilograms, and in tallow of 3.930 kilograms; its skin was sold for 10 francs. The same grower sells regularly at his sheep-fold, for the butcher, his fat sheep, including the fleece, at 30 francs for animals six months old; for 60 francs at eighteen months, and for 80 francs at thirty months.

The change effected in the French merino is thus described by M. Gayot after giving the peculiar points of the old merino: "The ameliorators of the new race have had to fulfil another programme. At first they had only to produce a short wool; this alone implied great modifications in the skin. The folds disappeared upon a more ample body, which has become lower and more elongated, more filled out, more fleshy and less bone. It is a constant physiological result that, with a given race, the less the skeleton is developed, the longer becomes the staple of the fleece. Such, then, are the new characters deduced physiologically one from the other; a more cylindrical structure; a diminution in the volume of the bone; the disappearance of the folds of the skin; a suppression of the horns; a very notable contraction of the head and of the deformities which dishonored it; a descent of the wool upon the parts of the body where it had neither quality nor value; the choice pieces, the sides (cotelettes) and legs, become more marked and acquire more weight; the wool of medium quality becomes more abundant, and is at the same time soft and long; the growth of the animal is more rapid; the fattening more easy; the return of flesh greater, and the quality more appreciable."

It was observed that the fitness of the new merino race for the cultivated and populous districts of France was so marked that the exhibitors at Billancourt of animals of the small and fine-wool Negretti race displayed them with this published precaution: "In poor countries little advanced, where the pasturage is thin and the price of flesh will not cover the cost of production, the wool ought to be the principal and often the only product of sheep. We must then attempt to obtain as much wool as possible upon animals of small size and easy to nourish." It is for our agriculturists to determine whether the facts above given can be of practical application in this country.

ENGLISH COMBING WOOL.

The possession, by England, of the long-woolled races of sheep was the foundation of her manufacturing supremacy, the worsted manufacture supplied by this wool far surpassing that of clothing wool, and having opened the manufacture of cotton. More than half of the wool of England, whose annual product is about 250,000,000 pounds, is used for combing purposes, no wool of the merino race being produced. There is no more important question to American agriculture and manufactures, and no one more nearly related to the vital question of cheap sustenance, than the inquiry whether the long-woolled mutton sheep shall be produced abundantly in this country. The present consumption of this wool is about 6,000,000 pounds. The extension of the manufacture, which has been mechanically successful here, is limited by the supply of material; were this abundant the combed-wool industry would soon take its place by the clothing-wool industry, and double the products of the woollen manufacture. That there are no physical obstacles, such as condition of soil and climate, in this country to prevent the culture of the long wools of English blood, is demonstrated by the success in the culture of this wool in Upper Canada, from which province we obtain nearly all the long combing wool consumed here, our manufacture having been stimulated by the reciprocity treaty, which admitted these wools without duty. These wools are successfully and profitably grown in the neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and also in Kentucky, where a new race of long-woolled sheep appears to have been formed. The inducements for growing long-woolled sheep, especially in the neighborhood of the great cities, are, that profit is derived from three sources-the mutton, lambs, and wool-each coming to market at different seasons. The value of combing wools, as compared with the merino clothing wools, has greatly increased, and, in all probability, will continue to do so. The English combing fleeces were worth, in 1855, only 1s. 14d. In 1864, they were worth 2s. 4d. They had more than doubled in price while the clothing wools had just about held their price; the reason for this difference being that, while the demand for long lustre wool for the worsted manufacture has greatly increased, its culture has been confined to England, Holland, and parts of Germany, while the vast regions of

Australia, the Cape of Good Hope, and Buenos Ayres, have been opened to fine wool husbandry. American agriculturists differ as to the profit of growing the wool of English blood in the United States. On the one hand, the president of the New England Society of Agriculture asserts that "the mutton sheep of England are unsuited to our climate and soil, and are neither adapted to the extensive grazing lands where flocks are fed which are counted by the thousand, nor to the small farm which cannot furnish any luxuriance of food." On the other hand, the president of the National Wool Growers' Association, with more discrimination, asserts that the Cotswolds and Leicesters are well adapted to profitable breeding in the State of New York, for mutton and wool combined, in situations where the lands are rich, unsubject to drouth and adapted to root culture, and where good city mutton markets are easily accessible; he says, "they are great favorites with dairy farmers, and with grain growing farmers who wish to keep but few sheep." If the present high duties on combing wools shall stimulate their production, they should be continued. If they fail of this effect after a reasonable trial, the intelligence of the great body of the wool-growers will lead to the reduction of duties on these wools to a revenue standard. It is for the interest of the grower of the American merino wool, that there should be a supply of long wool to develop the worsted manufacture, that thereby a demand may arise for combing wools of merino blood, for the fabrication of the soft and fine stuff goods previously referred to, the command of both kinds of wool being necessary for a prosperous manufacture, in some fabrics one supplying the warp and the other the filling.1

CHEVIOT SHEEP.

A race of sheep producing wool adapted for combing and special clothing purposes has been altogether neglected in this country. This is the Cheviot sheep, so extensively bred in Scotland in place of the old Highland breed, and which supplies the chief revenue of the vast estates of the noble families of Breadalbane, Argyle, Athol, Sutherland, and Buccleuch.

The introduction of these sheep would lead to the supply of a most valuable and much needed material for our manufacturers. The wool is sufficiently long to be combed and may be all converted into worsted. It is finer than the Cotswold, and can be advantageously mixed with English combing wool. Our worsted manufacturers, familiar with the working of this wool in Scotland, consider its acquisition for combing purposes, simply, as very desirable. It is, however, particularly desirable to supply an important deficiency of material for certain card wool fabrics. It is this wool, or a mixture of it, which gives their peculiar character to the Scotch tweeds and the Scotch cassimeres and coarser shawls. It is also extensively used at Rochdale for blankets, for which

1 See letter of Mr. Walworth on "Combing Wools," in Appendix, not accessible when this report was submitted.

purpose it is specially fitted by being less liable to felt than the merino wools. We have invariably failed, in this country, in attempts to make goods corresponding to the Scotch cassimeres, so much in request.' The basis of these fabrics is the Cheviot wool, to which finer wools are added to give variety to the texture; their peculiar style resulting, according to the statements of Mr. Bowes, from the mixture of the coarse and long with short and fine fibre. These sheep resemble the Leicesters in general appearance, being without horns and having white faces and legs, though they are much inferior in size. They have an advantage over the Leicesters in their superior hardiness, as they thrive with conditions of keep and exposure under which the former would perish. Protected by their elose fleece, which prevents the penetration of rain and snow, they bear with comparative impunity the storms of the Scottish hills and thrive on their pastures. Their limbs are of a length to fit them for travelling, and enable them to pass over bogs and snows, through which a shorter legged animal could not penetrate. In Scotland they have no other food, except when it is proposed to fatten them, than the natural grass produced on their own hills. The hardiness of the animals of this race, and the facility with which, unlike the Leicesters, they are nourished and tended in large flocks, would seem to fit them admirably for the rough husbandry of California, New Mexico, and the mountains of North Carolina. In the present state of our manufactures it is certain there would be an extensive demand for their wool.

Although it may seem presumptuous in a manufacturer to attempt to throw light upon the question of sheep husbandry, the object is more to disclose our necessities than to pronounce remedies. It is apparent that this most vital of all agricultural problems is very far from having been resolved in this country. England has resolved the question for her soil and climate, and has made the mutton sheep culture the pivot upon which her agriculture revolves, and the means of making her fields more productive in wheat than even the prairies of the west. In this country new elements enter into the consideration of this question; among them is the means of making our peculiar possession of Indian corn most available in the production of wool and mutton, and the relations of sheep husbandry to the culture of the beet for sugar, an industry destined to have a great extension at the west. Profit to the farmer and a supply of raw material to the manufacturer are not alone to be considered. With the increasing dearness of animal food the question of cheaper sus tenance is coming to be as vital here as in Europe. The greater development of sheep husbandry, with a view to the supply of mutton as well as wool, will be the most efficient and quickest means of diminishing the cost of all animal food, as well as of increasing the supply of cereals by restoring our degenerating soil to remunerating cultivation. Happily the interests of sheep husbandry are receiving, in this country,

'Since the above was written, fabrics called Cheviots, similar to the Scotch goods, have been successfully made here.

more earnest and intelligent attention than ever before. There is no movement in American agriculture more encouraging than the vitality of the recent national, State, and county associations of those engaged in this branch of agriculture, and the vigor and talent with which the departments of sheep husbandry are conducted in the leading agricultural papers.

Recurring to the Exposition, the evidences of the vast scale upon which sheep husbandry is carried on in Russia, appearing in the notices of its exhibitors at Paris, could not fail to attract attention. Mr. Tilibert speaks thus of his flock: "It consists of 70,000 merino sheep. In 1864 it numbered 50,000 head, which gave 12,860 poods1 of wool. Mr. Michel Bernstein, of Odessa, describes his production as follows: "The flock of Falz Feim consists of 400,000 animals. The last shearing produced 30,000 poods, washed, and sold for 870,000 roubles, or 2,974,500 francs."

Passing over the coarse wools of the Highland breed, the carpet wools of Russia and South America, the alpacas of Peru, and the Angora of Turkey, all of which, with the exception, perhaps, of the latter, are of but little interest to the American wool producer, as they do not compete with any wools grown in this country, or which are likely to be grown, because other wool can be produced with greater profit, as it is not usual to raise rye on land which will raise an equal amount of wheat, the undersigned would observe that the interest displayed by all the continental governments of Europe in the introduction of valuable breeds of sheep is worthy of imitation by our own government. If the introduction, at the government expense, of valuable foreign breeds of sheep, to be confided to the Department of Agriculture, might not be deemed expedient, there is certainly every reason for favoring the importation of desirable breeds of sheep and other animals by annulling the duties on such importations.

A nood is equal to 16.80 kilograms; .45341 of a kilogram is equal to one pound avoirdar 08.

2 See special paper upon the "Angora Goat," in the Appendix.