[Illustration: A MERINO RAM.]
The Spanish sheep, in different countries, has, either directly or
indirectly, effected a complete revolution in the character of the
fleece. The race is unquestionably one of the most ancient extant. The
early writers on agriculture and the veterinary art describe various
breeds of sheep as existing in Spain, of different colors--black, red,
and tawny. The black sheep yielded a fine fleece, the finest of that
color which was then known; but the red fleece of Baetica--a considerable
part of the Spanish coast on the Mediterranean, comprising the modern
Spanish provinces of Gaen, Cordova, Seville, Andalusia, and Granada,
which was early colonized by the enterprising Greeks--was, according to
Pliny, of still superior quality, and "had no fellow."
These sheep were probably imported from Italy, and of the Tarentine
breed, which had gradually spread from the coast of Syria, and of the
Black Sea, and had then reached the western extremity of Europe. Many of
them mingled with and improved the native breeds of Spain, while others
continued to exist as a distinct race, and, meeting with a climate and
an herbage suited to them, retained their original character and value,
and were the progenitors of the Merinos of the present day. Columella, a
colonist from Italy, and uncle of the writer of an excellent work on
agriculture, introduced more of the Tarentine sheep into Baetica, where
he resided in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, in the year 41, and
otherwise improved on the native breed; for, struck with the beauty of
some African rams which had been brought to Rome to be exhibited at the
public games, he purchased them, and conveyed them to his farm in Spain,
whence, probably, originated the better varieties of the long-woolled
breeds of that country.
Before his time, however, Spain possessed a valuable breed; since
Strabo, who flourished under Tiberius, speaking of the beautiful woollen
cloths that were worn by the Romans, says that the wool was brought from
Truditania, in Spain.
The limited region of Italy--overrun, as it repeatedly was, by hordes of
barbarians during and after the times of the latest emperors--soon lost
her pampered flocks; while the extended regions of Spain--intersected in
every direction by almost impassable mountains--could maintain their
more hardy race, in defiance of revolution or change.
To what extent the improvements which have been noticed were carried is
unknown; but as Spain was at that time highly civilized, and as
agriculture was the favorite pursuit of the greater part of the
colonists that spread over the vast territory, which then acknowledged
the Roman power, it is highly probable that Columella's experiments laid
the foundation for a general improvement in the Spanish sheep--an
improvement, moreover, which was not lost, nor even materially impaired,
during the darker ages that succeeded.
The Merino race possess inbred qualities to an extent surpassed by no
others. They have been improved in the general weight and evenness of
their fleece, as in the celebrated flock of Rambouillet; in the
uniformity and excessive fineness of the fibre, as in the Saxons; and in
their form and feeding qualities, in various countries; but there has
never yet been deterioration, either in quantity or quality of fleece or
carcass, wherever they have been transported, if supplied with suitable
food and attention. Most sheep annually shed their wool if unclipped;
while the Merino retains its fleece, sometimes for five years, when
allowed to remain unshorn.
Conclusive evidence is thus afforded of continued breeding among
themselves, by which the very constitution of the wool-producing organs
beneath the skin have become permanently established; and this property
is transmitted to a great extent, even among the crosses, thus marking
the Merino as an ancient and peculiar race.
The remains of the ancient varieties of color, also, as noticed by
Pliny, Solinus, and Columella, may still be discovered in the modern
Merino. The plain and indeed the only reason that can be assigned for
the union of black and gray faces with white bodies, in the same breed,
is the frequent intermixture of black and white sheep, until the white
prevails in the fleece, and the black is confined to the face and legs.
It is still apt to break out occasionally in the individual, unless it
is fixed and concentrated in the face and legs, by repeated crosses and
a careful selection; and, on the contrary, in the Merino South-Down the
black may be reduced by a few crosses to small spots about the legs,
while the Merino hue overspreads the countenance. This hue--variously
described as a velvet, a buff, a fawn, or a satin-colored countenance,
but in which a red tinge not infrequently predominates, still indicates
the original colors of the indigenous breeds of Spain; and the black
wool, for which Spain was formerly so much distinguished, is still
inclined to break out occasionally in the legs and ears of the Merino.
In some flocks half the ear is invariably brown, and a coarse black hair
is often discernible in the finest pile.
[Illustration: A SPANISH SHEEP DOG.]
The conquest, in the eighth century, by the Moors of those fine
provinces in the south of Spain, so far from checking, served rather to
encourage the production of fine wool. The conquerors were not only
enterprising, but highly skilled in the useful arts, and carried on
extensive manufactories of fine woollen goods, which they exported to
different countries. The luxury of the Moorish sovereigns has been the
theme of many writers; and in the thirteenth century, when the woollen
manufacture flourished in but few places, there were found in Seville no
less than sixteen thousand looms. A century later, Barcelona, Perpignan,
and Tortosa were celebrated for the fineness of their cloths, which
became staple articles of trade throughout the greater part of Europe,
as well as on the coast of Africa.
After the expulsion of the Moors, in the fifteenth century, by
Ferdinand and Isabella, the woollen manufacture languished, and was, in
a great degree, lost to Spain, owing to the rigorous banishment of
nearly one million industrious Moors, most of whom were weavers. As a
consequence, the sixteen thousand looms of Seville dwindled down to
sixty. The Spanish government perceived its fatal mistake too late, and
subsequent efforts to gain its lost vantage-ground in respect to this
manufacture proved fruitless. During all that time, however, the Spanish
sheep appear to have withstood the baneful influence of almost total
neglect; and although the Merino flocks and Merino wool have improved
under the more careful management of other countries, the world is
originally indebted to Spain for the most valuable material in the
manufacture of cloth.
The perpetuation of the Merino sheep in all its purity, amid the
convulsions which changed the entire political framework of Spain and
destroyed every other national improvement, strikingly illustrates the
primary determining power of blood or breeding, as well as the agency of
soil and climate--possibly too much underrated in modern times.
These Spanish sheep are divided into two classes: the _stationary_, or
those that remain during the whole of the year on a certain farm, or in
a certain district, there being a sufficient provision for them in
winter and in summer; and the _migratory_, or those which wander some
hundreds of miles twice in the year, in quest of pasturage. The
principal breed of stationary sheep consists of true Merinos; but the
breeds most sought for, and with which so many countries have been
enriched, are the Merinos of the migratory description, which pass the
summer in the mountains of the north, and the winter on the plains
toward the south of Spain.
The first impression made by the Merino sheep on one unacquainted with
its value would be unfavorable. The wool lying closer and thicker over
the body than in most other breeds, and being abundant in yolk--or a
peculiar secretion from the glands of the skin, which nourishes the wool
and causes it to mat closely together--is covered with a dirty crust,
often full of cracks. The legs are long, yet small in the bone; the
breast and the back are narrow, and the sides somewhat flat; the
fore-shoulders and bosoms are heavy, and too much of their weight is
carried on the coarser parts. The horns of the male are comparatively
large, curved, and with more or less of a spiral form; the head is
large, but the forehead rather low. A few of the females are horned;
but, generally speaking, they are without horns. Both male and female
have a peculiar coarse and unsightly growth of hair on the forehead and
cheeks, which the careful shepherd cuts away before the shearing-time;
the other part of the face has a pleasing and characteristic velvet
appearance. Under the throat there is a singular looseness of skin,
which gives them a remarkable appearance of throatiness, or hollowness
in the neck. The pile or hair, when pressed upon, is hard and
unyielding, owing to the thickness into which it grows on the pelf, and
the abundance of the yolk, retaining all the dirt and gravel which falls
upon it; but, upon examination, the fibre exceeds, in fineness and in
the number of serrations and curves, that which any other sheep in the
world produces. The average weight of the fleece in Spain is eight
pounds from the ram, and five from the ewe. The staple differs in length
in different provinces. When fatted, these sheep will weigh from twelve
to sixteen pounds per quarter.
The excellence of the Merinos consist in the unexampled fineness and
felting property of their wool, and in the weight of it yielded by each
individual sheep; the closeness of that wool, and the luxuriance of the
yolk, which enable them to support extremes of cold and wet quite as
well as any other breed; the readiness with which they adapt themselves
to every change of climate, retaining, with common care, all their
fineness of wool, and thriving under a burning tropical sun, and in the
frozen regions of the north; an appetite which renders them apparently
satisfied with the coarsest food; a quietness and patience into whatever
pasture they are turned; and a gentleness and tractableness not excelled
in any other breed.
Their defects--partly attributable to the breed, but more to
the improper mode of treatment to which they are occasionally
subjected--are, their unthrifty and unprofitable form; a tendency to
abortion, or barrenness; a difficulty of yeaning, or giving birth to
their young; a paucity of milk; and a too frequent neglect of their
lambs. They are likewise said, notwithstanding the fineness of their
wool, and the beautiful red color of the skin when the fleece is parted,
to be more subject to cutaneous affections than most other breeds. Man,
however, is far more responsible for this than Nature. Every thing was
sacrificed in Spain to fineness and quantity of wool. These were
supposed to be connected with equality of temperature, or, at least,
with freedom from exposure to cold; and, therefore, twice in the year, a
journey of four hundred miles was undertaken, at the rate of eighty or a
hundred miles per week--the spring journey commencing when the lambs
were scarcely four months old. It is difficult to say in what way the
wool of the migratory sheep was, or could be, benefited by these
periodical journeys. Although among them is found the finest and most
valuable wool in Spain, yet the stationary sheep, in certain
provinces--Segovia, Leon, and Estremadura--are more valuable than the
migratory flocks of others. Moreover, the fleece of some of the German
Merinos--which do not travel at all, and are housed all the
winter--greatly exceeds that obtained from the best migratory breed--the
Leonese--in fineness and felting property; and the wool of the migratory
sheep has been, comparatively speaking, driven out of the market by that
from sheep which never travel. With respect to the carcass, these
harassing journeys, occupying one-quarter of the year, tend to destroy
all possibility of fattening, or any tendency toward it, and the form
and the constitution of the flock are deteriorated, and the lives of
many sacrificed.
The first importation of Merinos into the United States took place in
1801; a banker of Paris, Mr. Delessert, having shipped four, of which
but one arrived in safety at his farm near Kingston, in New York; the
others perished on the passage. The same year, Mr. Seth Adams, of
Massachusetts, imported a pair from France. In 1802, Chancellor
Livingston, then American Minister at the court of Versailles, sent two
choice pairs from the Rambouillet flock--which was started, in 1786, by
placing four hundred ewes and rams, selected from the choicest Spanish
flocks, on the royal farm of that name, in France--to Claremont, his
country-seat, on the Hudson river. In the latter part of the same year,
Colonel Humphreys, American Minister to Spain, shipped two hundred, on
his departure from that country. The largest importations, however, were
made through Hon. William Jarvis, of Vermont, then American Consul at
Lisbon, Portugal, in 1809, 1810, and 1811, who succeeded in obtaining
the choicest sheep of that country. Various subsequent importations took
place, which need not be particularized.
The cessation of all commercial intercourse with England, in 1808 and
1809, growing out of difficulties with that country, directed attention,
in an especial manner, toward manufacturing and wool-growing. The
Merino, consequently, rose into importance, and so great was the
interest aroused, that from a thousand to fourteen hundred dollars a
head was paid for them. Some of the later importations, unfortunately,
arrived in the worst condition, bringing with them those scourges of the
sheep family, the scab and the foot-rot; which evils, together with
increased supply, soon brought them down to less than a twentieth part
of their former price. When, however, it was established, by actual
experiment, that their wool did not deteriorate in this country, as had
been feared by many, and that they became readily acclimated, they again
rose into favor. The prostration of the manufacturing interests of the
country, which ensued soon afterwards, rendered the Merino of
comparatively little value, and ruined many who had purchased them at
their previous high prices. Since that period, the valuation of the
sheep which bear the particular wool has, as a matter of course, kept
pace with the fluctuations in the price of the wool.
The term Merino, it must be remembered, is but the general appellation
of a breed, comprising several varieties, presenting essential points of
difference in size, form, quality and quantity of wool. These families
have generally been merged, by interbreeding, in the United States and
other countries which have received the race from Spain. Purity of
_Merino_ blood, and actual excellence in the individual and its
ancestors, form the only standard in selecting sheep of this breed.
Families have, indeed, sprung up in this country, exhibiting wider
points of difference than did those of Spain. This is owing, in some
cases, doubtless, to particular causes of breeding; but more often,
probably, to concealed or forgotten infusions of other blood. The
question, which has been at times raised, whether there are any Merinos
in the United States, descendants of the early importations, of
unquestionable purity of blood, has been conclusively settled in the
affirmative.
The minor distinctions among the various families into which, as has
already been intimated, the American Merino has diverged, are numerous,
but may all, perhaps, be classed under three general heads.
The _first_ is a large, short-legged, strong, exceedingly hardy sheep,
carrying a heavy fleece, ranging from medium to fine, free from hair in
properly bred flocks; somewhat inclined to throatiness, but not so much
so as the Rambouillets; bred to exhibit external concrete gum in some
flocks, but not commonly so; their wool rather long on back and belly,
and exceedingly dense; wool whiter within than the Rambouillets; skin
the same rich rose-color. Sheep of this class are larger and stronger
than those originally imported, carry much heavier fleeces, and in
well-selected flocks, or individuals, the fleece is of a decidedly
better quality.
The _second_ class embraces smaller animals than the preceding; less
hardy; wool, as a general thing, finer, and covered with a black, pitchy
gum on its extremities; fleece about one-fourth lighter than in the
former class.
The _third_ class, bred at the South, mostly, includes animals still
smaller and less hardy, and carrying still finer and lighter fleeces.
The fleece is destitute of external gum. The sheep and wool have a close
resemblance to the Saxon; and, if not actually mixed with that blood,
they have been formed into a similar variety, by a similar course of
breeding.
[Illustration: OUT AT PASTURE.]
The mutton of the Merino, notwithstanding the prejudices existing on the
subject, is short-grained, and of good flavor, when killed at a proper
age, and weighs from ten to fourteen pounds to the quarter. It is
remarkable for its longevity, retaining its teeth, and continuing to
breed two or three years longer than the common sheep, and at least half
a dozen years longer than the improved English breeds. It should,
however, be remarked, in this connection, that it is correspondingly
slow in arriving at maturity, as it does not attain its full growth
before three years of age; and the ewes, in the best managed flocks, are
rarely permitted to breed before they reach that age.
The Merino is a far better breeder than any other fine-woolled sheep,
and its lambs, when newly dropped, are claimed to be hardier than the
Bakewell, and equally so with the high-bred South-Down. The ewe, as has
been intimated, is not so good a nurse, and will not usually do full
justice to more than one lamb. Eighty or ninety per cent. is about the
ordinary number of lambs reared, though it often reaches one hundred per
cent., in carefully managed or small flocks.
Allusion has heretofore been made to the cross between the Merino and
the native sheep. On the introduction of the Saxon family of the
Merinos, they were universally engrafted on the parent stock, and the
cross was continued until the Spanish blood was nearly bred out. When
the admixture took place with judiciously selected Saxons, the results
were not unfavorable for certain purposes. These instances of judicious
crossing were, unfortunately, rare. Fineness of wool was made the only
tests of excellence, no matter how scanty its quantity, or how
diminutive or miserable the carcass. The consequence was, as might be
supposed, the ruin of most of the Merino flocks.