weather be good) in the open yard, except for those which are too weak; at night however, they are separated from their mothers. In this section the lambs receive three times a day a larger portion of oats, viz: nine half metzen per one hundred head, afterwards in the morning fine hay, at noon clover, and in the evening oats and vetches, mixed together. It is customary to supply them with a little water after the first fodder and again after the meal at noon, in order to accustom them by degrees to the water. In the tenth week the lambs are suffered to be with their mothers only once every day, viz: after the early watering in the morning; on the other hand, their quantum of fodder is increased in proportion, and they now receive in the morning at six o'clock, one-fourth of a pound of fine meadow hay; at nine o'clock they are introduced to the ewes for suckling; at ten o'clock the lambs receive one and a half metzen of fresh and coarse barley meal per one hundred head, mixed with one and a half metzen of oats; then one-fourth pound of clover hay per head, and finally some water in the manger. At two o'clock they receive again the same quantity of barley meal and oats as in the forenoon, and afterwards four pounds of hay; at three o'clock they have watering, which, if the weather be fine, is done at the well. Finally, in the evening they receive one-fourth of a pound of eats and vetches mixed together.

At the age of twelve weeks, the lambs, if they are vigorous and developed according to their age, are weaned, while those that are yet too weak, remain with the ewes till the age of from fourteen to fifteen weeks. The weanlings are fed, as follows: in the morning at six o'clock they receive half of a pound of fine hay; at eight watering in the stall; at ten o'clock, one and a half metzen of barley meal, together with one and a half metzen of oats to one hundred head, and afterwards one-fourth of a pound of clover; at two o'clock, P. M., again oats and barley and afterwards one-fourth of a pound of hay; at four o'clock watering at the well, but in addition, the lambs are offered water in the stall also; at six in the evening half of a pound of oats and vetches once a week, towards evening and before the last fodder, the weanlings are furnished with salt to lick, one pound to one hundred head. The gelding of the ram lamb, as also the shortening of the tail, is done in the eighth week, if the weather permits. In the case of ram lambs the tail is lopped off to six inches, in that of the ewe lambs to three inches from the root of the tail.

The arrangement of the sheep fold is worthy of special attention, which allows the watering, salt-licking, and the straw to be administered in the open air in every weather and season of the year, with the exception only of stormy winter days. In every sheep fold there is a shelter house, without side walls and resting upon wooden pillars, of a proportional length and about nine feet in width. Here the sheep find shelter from the oppressive heat, as well as from snow and rain.

In order that the general superintendence of the sheep, as also the feeding may be attended to with the requisite uniformity, the flocks are divided according to age and gender, in herds of coupling rams, rams for sale, young rams, old pregnant and young ewes, old and young wethers, early and late lambs. From the number of shepherds employed to superintend the sheep, may be inferred how great care must be bestowed upon them. In the original stock of Hatvan there are twelve shepherds to 1,826 head; in the Acsa district seventeen to 3,117 head; in Göbo Gára, twelve to 2,387 head, &c.; hence there are to one servant in Hatvan 150 head, in Acsa 230, in Göbō Gára 200, &c.

Owing to this attentive and exemplary management of the flocks, they are constantly in a flourishing state of health, and during the last ten years the mortality, by an average, amounted to no more than six per cent.; which, it must be admitted, is a result scarcely any where else attained in Hungary, where the mortality sometimes averages twenty per cent. especially in flocks that pasture upon the lowlands.

Among the numerous objects of interest to those who come from abroad to see Alcsúth, the arrangements for washing the sheep, and the house for shearing, certainly do not rank as last in importance.

The establishment for the washing of the sheep is built on a very ingenious plan, and the execution of the establishment will be found to correspond throughout to its purpose and design.

IV. On the Improved Merino Sheep, with Illustrations.

Plate II., Fig. 19, is a merino buck, from the flocks of Von Thäer,* at Moegelin. I visited his farm and examined the flock, this buck at once attracted my attention from his fine form, heavy folded skin, &c. I learned from the shepherd, who tended the ram flock, that this was the best buck of the whole herd. With the permission of Von Thäer, I made an accurate drawing of this ram, as seen in Fig. 19, in a side view, and in Fig. 20, as seen from behind. I took great pains to put down every fold as they appeared on him. It was in the beginning of the month of August, when the fleece was yet short and the folds could all be seen.

Twenty years ago, bucks with a smooth tight skin, which had extremely fine wool, were considered the best; but their fleeces were light in weight, and had a tendency to run into twist. The German merino wool grower, had to come back to the original form of rams, with a loose skin, many folds and heavy fleeces, and since then they have succeeded in uniting, with a great quantity of wool, a high degree of fineness. This kind of heavy folded animals, rams and ewes, are now considered the best for breeding and wool bearing.

Fig. 21, represents an ewe, the mother of the buck shown in Figs. 19 and 20. Fig. 22, an Infantado buck.

According to Petri, who travelled in Spain, with the view of collecting information upon merino wool culture, the Spanish consider merino sheep, with folds, as a sign of an improved and thorough breed. More or less folds upon an animal give proof of the greater or less quantity of wool; but these folds must be covered with as fine and good a wool as it is on the adjacent parts of the body. There is a great difference in the quantity of wool which a sheep yields, as seen in Figs. 19 and 22, and such as have few or no folds, what the shepherd calls a tight skinned sheep. The Spaniards kill all those lambs which are born with few folds and fine short hair, or almost naked, because experience has taught them that the off spring of such animals bear a fine wool, but produce by degrees, animals with flabby light fleeces which gradually lose the folds, and become thinner and thinner in the fleece and are consequently less advantageous to the wool grower than those sheep which are produced from lambs with plenty of folds and a thick cover of fine soft hair.

When we examine such a sheep, after the fleece has its full growth, the wool must be on all parts of the body even in fineness, the folds must be

Son of the celebrated Albert Von Thaer.

covered with as fine a wool as on the shoulders and sides; a sheep with such a fleece, may be considered as a sign of high blood. The lambs of the electoral flocks of Saxony, have been of that smooth kind just mentioned, and produced the electoral wool, which was found to be similar to that grown in Spain, from the merinos estantes, which is but a small quantity, when compared with the clips from the transhumantes, the flocks of which rally bear heavy fleeces.

gene

The common country sheep, on the continent of Europe, have no folds, and they get them only, when they are crossed with full blooded merino bucks, whereby the fleece becomes thicker and closer.

Only to the merino breed belongs the close and thick set fleece, which, in respect to their size, produces the greatest quantity of wool. The folds are not a necessary condition of fineness, but of quantity, and are peculiar to the Spanish full blooded merinos. Almost all superior merinos have folds upon the ribs, where the finest wool grows, and the wool of these animals is of such an uniform character that the folds are only discernible after the animal is shorn.

Petri observed, that the lambs which bring into the world fine soft hairand a great number of folds, and whose tails are, in appearance, shortened by the large folds around them, bear the indication of great softness and quantity of wool.

According to Petri, the sheep in the various stages of crossing, can be divided into four epochs, viz:

1st. The original country sheep.

2d. The improved breed.

3d. The improved half blood, and,

4th. The original merino, or perfect blood.

The common country sheep have, naturally, an irregular fleece, consisting of coarse hair and partly of coarse wool, which is not unfrequently of a very unequal thickness, rough in appearance and to the touch. The points of such a wool, stand separate, disunited and unconnected with other hair; the hair is straight and uncurled. Such sheep grow upon a square inch, 5000 to 5500 wool hairs. The lambs bring into the world a long, stiff, waved hair, and few or no folds; sometimes these lambs are covered with hair and wool mixed.

Improved breed, so called, when the buck is from original Spanish blood, and the ewe is a common country sheep. The offspring approach, gradually, by a continued careful crossing, to the merino. In the first, second, third and fourth generation, the skin becomes more vigorous, and developes more power to the formation of the wool staple, which obtains, by a continued skilful breeding, a more regular form and permanent character. The lambs possess more or less folds, especially when the sire had a dense fleece.

In this period the fleece consists of twenty-five per cent* prima, 50 per cent. secunda and 25 per cent. tertia wool. The nature of the wool is still coarse, the wool hairs yet very unequal, sometimes harsh, then again soft, coarser or finer, shorter or longer, and not seldom mixed with stichel (bristly) or dogs hair, especially on the belly and thighs, and the wool runs easily into felt. The lambs are covered with a wool, mixed with thick hair, which, on the neck, dewlaps, and thighs, is of a coarse nature.

The German wool growers assort the clips of merino wool in-super super; I. super electa; II. super electa; I. electa; II. electa; I. prima; II. prima; secunda; tertia; quarta: quinta; sexta.

In the third and fourth generation there are about 18,000 wool hairs upon a square inch. The folds then are increasing; those on the dewlaps, bear a coarse quinta or sexta wool, but those on the other parts of the body a better wool. The whole fleece begins to have a regular wool formation; the curves of each hair becomes uniform, but have not yet arrived to that general uniformity as to form strands of a more uniform nature, the dogs and stichel, (bristly) hairs, become less, and the wool partakes more of the merino character in proportion as all other qualities are improving.

In the tenth generation of improved breeding, the fine wool predominates, a fleece yields 60 to 70 per cent. prima, 20 to 25 per cent. secunda, and 10 to 15 per cent. tertia wool. The fleece continues whitish on the back and extremities, which is yet an indication of coarse wool; but the other parts have already a greyish color, or what the shepherd calls the-noble color, which indicates the presence of a greater quantity of yolk. At this period, the wool separates upon the back, in regular lines or hair furrows and does not form itself into small wool tufts or staples.

Tufts, composed of hair of various dimensions and curves, last yet for several generations. The animal improved so far, has changed its form and is seen to be improved through a short, round head, with a strong growth of wool upon it, has shorter legs and the ear diminishes also in size. In the face yet appear stichel, (bristly) hair, and it is covered with coarse

wool of white color.

The fleece of the lambs consists of hair, coarse hair, and half wool. There sometimes appear smooth woolled lambs, without hair, and sometimes lambs with spots, and sometimes entirely black ones. The lambs born in this epoch have an increase of folds, which are still covered with a wool of coarser nature than the rest, generally a quarta wool; on the thighs and feet the dogs and stichel, or bristly hair, become less.

The improved half blood, which is obtained through a continued regular crossing with full blood rams, has already a regular fleece; the flocks of improved half blood have a great similarity in form and size of body; the faulty formation of the wool, also the irregular high curves of the wool hair, becoming less in number. The wool hairs ought, in this epoch, to have the quality of developing themselves in round small tufts, the long wool seams upon the back disappear and are closed up; the wool hair is less exposed to the influence of the sun and rain. The noble qualities of the wool become more concentrated and approach perfection. The yolk which was scarcely perceptible in the beginning of the improvement, takes now the peculiar oily and resinous character of the merinos.

In the twentieth generation, the fleece, by regular crossing and careful management, takes twenty per cent. electa III, fifty per cent. prima, twenty per cent. secunda, and ten per cent. tertia wool. There will yet, sometimes be a stichel, or bristle, and dogs hair, to be found. The head and legs are covered with a fine wool and the ears have lost the original size of the country sheep altogether. In this period, 27,000 wool hairs grow upon a square inch. There appear few spotted lambs, and fewer, with long, coarse, straight hairs upon the thigh and neck. The lambs are born with many folds and a kind of downy hair, among which the wool predominates; in a few days they lose these downy hairs, which are replaced by a dense growth of wool, that distinguishes itself by its fineness and softness.

Petri made the following observations on these downy hairs:

(a) They are often five or six times thicker than the wool grown upon the same animal.

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(b) In sheep with much curled wool, they are more or less curled. There appear lambs with long, coarse hair and wool; where a tuft of these coarse hairs is pulled out from the fleece, the hair yields and the wool remains.

(d) This hair, which is very thin, shiny, never changes into wool, but dies, gradually, from the points downwards, in the degree in which the roots of the wool hair enlarge and ultimately dislodge those of this hair.

(e) The faster the thin, downy hairs disappear, the finer the fleece becomes. Lambs which are born without that down, yield generally, a fleece with finer wool, which is not much curled, but of no great weight; upon the folds grow a better wool and the sharp hairs lose themselves entirely; but the wool upon these folds in this epoch, is always three or four degrees coarser than the rest.

The original, or the perfection of all parts of the animal, have gone through all the grades of improvement. The fleece in this epoch, is separated upon the skin, in small wool divisions, which consist of 2000 or 3000 wool hairs, and which are, from root to top, regularly curved, equal, fine, connected, and at the top, ending in an even staple. The yolk is clear, oily and gives the wool a glossy, shiny appearance. These wool divisions. are about as large as one-sixteenth of a square inch.

The fleece of an original, contains upon a square inch, 40 to 48,000 wool hairs.

Mr. Jeppe remarks, in his report on wool, at the meeting of German agriculturists, at Munich, Bavaria, held in the year 1844, p. 610, that upon a heavy fleeced animal he counted, on one-sixteenth of a square inch, 2618, and upon a thin, flabby fleeced animal, 1018 wool hairs; the wool was nearly equally fine in both fleeces.

V.-On the formation and growth of Wool, with Eighteen Illustrations.

Plate I.

On the formation and growth of wool, especially of merino wool, as well as respecting the considerations which are to be regarded in the breeding of Sheep.-The wool of sheep does not grow, as does the hair of other beasts, in a manner that every individual hair takes its own direction, but its many threads of wool unite always into one little tuft, and each of these again, stands in such connection with the rest as may allow every wool pelt (every fleece,) as a whole to appear like a web. The single tufts we call the staple. Fig. 1. Plate I.

The formation of the staple may easily be discerned in the surface of the fleece, which contains on it web formed furrows, woolly seams, but will be more noticeable if one lays the same out together, in any particular place. If we examine the staple more closely, we may discern in it the so called strands, (still smaller bunches) in which many threads of wool are closely connected. Strands of different forms, different fineness, or of an irregular curl, transfer these peculiarities to the staple, whereby yet further the exterior of the whole fleece is affected. We may, with tolerable certainty,

Strictly speaking, there is a distinction between pelt and fleece. Wool is called pelt so long as it is still on the body of the animal, and fleece when shorn, but still remaining in its natural

state.