am conscious of not having colored any picture too vividly, I may expect to receive the approbation of those breeders who have long adhered to the principles of Electoral breeding. This I may hope only of those breeders who in managing their flocks, are governed by considerations of agricultural economy. This is not always the case. Passion may incite a fascinated adorer of the fineness, nobility and elegance of the wool fibre to develop these properties to the highest pitch of perfection possibly attainable, no matter how small the net profits of his establishment may be. He is compensated for this loss by the just pride of furnishing the gladly surprised manufacturer with the most excellent product of which the breeding of the Merino sheep is capable, for manufacturing the costliest textures, and thinks the loss in the revenue to be counterbalanced by the moral satisfaction derived from the consciousness of having contributed to the preservation of the honor of Merino breeding in Germany. Instances of this kind are not, very rare, even in our selfish times so much attached to lucre.

If we except this minority of those breders whose measures are regulated by other motives than agricultural revenues, the expectation seems not to be unfounded, that the principles forming the character of the breeding of Negrettis will be more generally adopted, and that consequently, at no distant day, the Electoral race will be superceded whenever the state of agriculture guarantees that thoroughbred flocks will thrive.

It may appear more doubtful whether the new system will always dis. tinctly discern its object, and pursue in an unbiassed manner the paths marked out for it. If I am not mistaken, the views of a portion of the advocates of the modern race justify the apprehension that onesided efforts which have so seriously injured and brought down the breeding of Electorals, will also in this case arrest favorable results.

No cultivated race in the world is so reliable that the breeder may carelessly glide along with it, like the skipper in a safe canoe on a wide, deep river; we navigate a deceptive channel, and the helm has to be managed with a cautious attention, if we will avoid breakers and keep the craft afloat. We may, therefore, be permitted to describe some of the rapids and breakers in the new channel of Negretti breeding, which might prove dangerous to us. Among these I mention :

1. Regardless cultivation of the folds. In the Electoral race the folding of the skin was repudiated, and was only suffered to show a sign of itself on the neck, in order to prevent any deterioration of the quality of wool. Thus, art created the animal shaped like the gazelle, with folded, thin, and closely fitting skin. The tendency of Negretti breeding was different; what the breeding of Electorals had extorted from the plasticity of the

race appeared as a violation of nature and overgrowth in the eyes of the breeders of Negrettis, whose efforts aiming at appropriate forms of body, extension of the wool-field completely covered, and density of the skin, did full justice to the animals full of folds, with which they hoped to attain their ends sooner.

It cannot be denied that the smooth, foldless skin of the Merino sheep seldom furnishes the means for creating the greatest density in the growth of the wool; the efforts to give the flock this property constituting the heavy weight of fleece, of course, favored those animals whose wrinkled skin, densely folded all over the body, distinguished them even as lambs; because experience showed that among them there were found the individuals richest in wool. Here they had to acknowledge that the inferior quality of the fibres upon the folds, in comparison with the wool standing beside it upon the foldless skin, was not gratifying; but if they would not renounce the anticipated profits, they could not be over scrupulous, and had to take the inferior wool from the folds in the bargain. The cautious breeder left the decision to the worth of the wool and to the scales, whether the more wrinkled animal be also the more profitable and practical one, since the fold of the skin was only a means to attain his end, but not the end itself. He observed that the skin richest in folds did not always show the densest growth of wool, but that in this case, by a regardless cultivation of the folds, without restriction or regard to the quantity of wool, an overgrowth may be effected, in which there appears a luxuriance of the skin without fullness of fleece, and the feed is wasted for a useless production-skin and yolk-in abundance. Further, it was observed that if the quality of the wool on the fold of the skin is too much disregarded, the latter at last will be clothed with a hair similar to that of the dog or goat, which will spread over the whole fleece to such an extent as to detract considerably from its value. On the other hand, it has been proved feasible, by cautious and careful breeding, to secure to the large folds around the neck, on the belly, at the root of the tail, and on the leg, if not a finelycurled, yet a mild, soft and undulating, glossy hair, and to the smaller folds of the skin on the other parts of the body, a wool, which as to fineness, character and formation of staple, was apparently inferior to the wool growing by its side only to the third shearing, but after that could hardly be distinguished from the adjoining staples of the smooth skin.

In consideration of such results, of which all prominent Negretti flocks may boast, we must denounce the tendency which we have designated above by the term of regardless cultivation of folds, as blamable and injuri ous to the good cause. According to it the largest number of folds is deemed the highest grade of the originality of the race, and without regard

to the weight of the fleece, the density of the skin, and the nature of the hair upon the skin of the fold, the animal is considered the more valuable the more monstrous it appears in this particular. Therein we cannot see any originality of race, but only an original view and strange taste, which must have a detrimental effect upon the profitableness of breeding.

2. Regardless efforts to increase the quantity of wool. The unfavorable results of the efforts to produce the finest wool by the breeding of Electorals, could not fail to astonish the agriculturist calculating more closely now than formerly. A change of views was brought about, and the reaction often caused the breeder to fall from one extreme into the other. The fineness of wool, which in many cases it had cost the efforts of a generation to bring to this state of perfection, was sacrificed with a certain self-complacency; the nobility, the equality, the truthfulness of the wool were hazarded, and surrendered to the blind demands for large quantities of wool. It seemed to be advantageous and timely to break with the things gone by, to forget the established doctrine in regard to the wool fibres and staple, and to make the further process dependent on the principle "that science must go backward."

"Nunguam retrorsum !" the greeting with which the advocate of retrogression was received at one of the finest festivals of our days, also ought to be a warning admonition to us in our industrial efforts.

If the opinion were correct, which declares it impossible to combine a heavy weight of fleece with those qualities requisite in an excellent clothwool, then this passion for quantity, and nothing but quantity, might pass, but since this combination is feasible, as has been evidently proved by an intelligent breeding of Negrettis, with proper regard to wool, it must be considered a precipitation of things, if we, in adopting the Negretti breed in the place of the Escurial, would not save as many as possible of the superior qualities of the latter race, but throw away the good things with the evil. We must lift up a voice of warning when we hear of the selection of a buck for Escurial flocks "rich in poverty and nobility" made, with remarks like the following: "I do not care for fineness and the like; I need a buck with many folds, which has furnished a heavy weight of fleece." Such purchasers are good customers for a number of Negretti flocks whose proprietors endeavor to furnish the material for this taste, and with the aid of a little hocus pocus a nice and profitable business may be done with such men. Such and similar views are not essential to the breed. ing of Negrettis; and if the former breeder of Escurials, wishing to improve his flock by Negretti blood, will look about, he will find that many stock flocks offer him the opportunity of acquiring animals for breeding,

which will furnish him with the desired quantity of wool, without depriving his flock of its innate superiority of fleece.

Yet I must repeatedly and expressly remark, that in this connection I always presume such agricultural conjunctures as render it not advisable to cultivate the fattening propensity of the Merino sheep and enhance its worth to the butcher, at the expense of the quality of the wool; that I, in a word, hitherto have spoken of sheep kept for producing wool, and of breeding them for that purpose in connection with the production of clothwool.

But the thing is otherwise if remunerative meat-prices and a sure sale of fattened animals induce the agriculturist to breed sheep for the sake of their meat. Surely there are junctures in which, even in connection with proportionately satisfactory and encouraging prices of fat sheep, it is not advisable to adopt the English breeds or their crosses with Merinos in the place of the latter race, but in which it appears to be more profitable to keep the Merino sheep, and to develop and cultivate its fattening quality as far as the race admits of it. Then the tendency in breeding becomes another one. The excellency requisite in a cloth-wool, to pass for a valuable article and command a high price, is derived from a combination of properties, which have been mentioned so often in this essay that I need not repeat them here. To keep them all combined in the highest possible state of perfection, is a feasible end, even with the addition of quantity. But if another new demand is added, namely, that the animal shall excel by those properties which are requisite in sheep bred for the sake of their meat, without any loss in the quality and quantity of its wool, then the sum of these demands can not be satisfied. If the market demands the production of meat to such an extent as may be practical in the breeding of Merinos, and if the establishment possesses sufficient feeding material to make the operation successful, then the breeder must give up the produc tion of a noble cloth-wool, and engage in the more modest production of card-wool; for the sum of the properties requisite for the latter are more limited, and the demands made by the manufacturer of a good card-wool, is more easily satisfied in connection with an increasing production of meat. Then the production of wool is less troublesome, because the breeder is relieved of the anxious attention he has to pay to the preservation of the large sum of properties requisite in a good cloth-wool, and hence he meets with no serious obstacles in making his animal better qualified for the production of meat. As is the case with the English races, the production of card-wool will occupy the fore-ground, where the Merino race constitutes the material for breeding to further the production of meat. The price of that article of wool, of course, is considerably depressed by the

great consumption at home and from abroad, yet the revenue derived from the sale of wool may still be satisfactory if the flock yields a heavy weight of fleeces. The riches in wool in a flock producing card-wool, which, at the same time, is kept and bred for the production of meat, will be the chief among the properties which should be cultivated. Under these junctures, such stock flocks as are frequently found in France are of incalculable value. The German Merino breeds also present a very desirable material for breeding, for the above-stated purposes, as is shown by several flocks of Mechlenburg, bred with this tendency, and among these that of Boldebuck, above-mentioned. Though the blood of the latter, and kindred stock flocks, is not adapted for improving flocks which are bred for the production of a noble cloth-wool, yet it is desirable and valuable for the production of Merino card-wool, in connection with the production of meat.