On the mountains of South Wales, the same kind of sheep are met with, which occupy the mountains of the northern division of the principality ; but they are more numerous in general ; the fleeces are reckoned at 1/ pound, and give as their total weight 3570 packs, the produce of 571,000 sheep : the home manufactures take off the whole of it.
Besides the various kinds of sheep which have been described, the Merino or Spanish sheep must not be pas sed over unnoticed ; they were introduced into this coun try about 14 years ago, and for some years were a very favourite breed ; but it has been ascertained, that though the fleece does not much degenerate here, yet the car. cass, which is naturally very ill formed, and affords com paratively little weight of meat, does not improve ; and as the farmer, in the kind of sheep which he keeps, must look not only to the produce of wool, but also to the butcher market, he has found it his interest rather to return to the native breeds of his own country, and to give up the Spani"heep ; they have, however, been of considerable service to the flocks of England, having been judiciously and successfully crossed, in many in stances, with the South Down, Rycland, Ec.* It may be proper, as well as useful and acceptable to the reader, before quitting this most interesting and im portant branch of our subject, to give the general results of the details into which we have entered.
In the first place, with regard to the long-woolled sheep of England, from the details which we have given,. it appears that the number of sheep of. this kind, kept. in this country, amount to 4,153,308.
That the total number of acres on which they are main tained is. 3,939,563.
That the average fleece of the long wool, varying in weight from five to nine pounds, may be estimated at seven pounds ten ounces.
That the stock, per acre, of this breed of sheep, may be set down as ?.(,} sheep maintained on one acre of ground ; the heaviest stock being 21 sheep on four acres, and the lightest one sheep on three acres.
That the produce per acre of long fleece wool is nearly eight pounds, and the number of packs 131,794.
The number of sheep of this kind that arc annually slaughtered, it is not easy to calculate with any consider able degree of accuracy ; but, according to the opinion of those who have the best means of information, and who have taken the greatest pains to inform themselves on this subject, it amounts to 1,176,770: of this number, probably not more than 196,128, produce wool fit for manufacturing uses, from which about 5434 packs are obtained. This will make the total number of packs of long wool amount to 137,228. In the second place,
with respect to short-woolled sheep, the number kept amounts, as appears from the details which have been given, to 14,854,299 ; the quantity of land on which they are maintained, may be calculated at 28,412,202 acres.
The average fleece of this kind of wool may be esti mated at 3 pounds 4 ounces ; the smallest produce be ing 1 j pounds, and the heaviest five pounds.
The stock, per acre, of the short woolled sheep, is At the highest being four sheep on three acres, and the lowest one sheep on four acres.
The produce, per acre, of short fleeced wool, is one pound five ounces, and the total number of packs 202,737.
The number of short woolled sheep annually slaugh• tered, is calculated to amount to 4,221,748, producing 28,520 packs of skin-wool ; besides this, the skin-wool of carrion sheep, or those which die annually of disease, must be reckoned ; as it is calculated that these bear the proportion of one to twenty of the whole stock of the kingdom, it will give a grand total of 393,236 packs of long and short wool.
Taking in all kinds of sheep, and the two different kinds of fleeces, the average stock per acre, in England, is sheep ; the average fleece, nearly four pounds eight ounces ; the average produce of long skin-wool per acre, about five ounces : of short skin-wool four ounces ; and of skin-wool over the whole kingdom, nearly five ounces. In estimating the grand total of wool produced in this country, we included 2919 packs of lambs wool from lambs slaughtered, and 7800 packs from lambs shorn, making the whole quantity of lambs wool 10.718 packs.
English wool is arranged into four classes, according to the fineness of its pile : In the first class, principally produced from the three Ridings of Yorkshire, West moreland, Cumberland and Lincolnshire, it is calculated there are 31,007 packs ; in the second class, produced from Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Kent, Hampshire Devonshire, Cornwall, Berkshire, Ox fordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Notting ham, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Durham, Nor thumberland, and Wales, it is estimated there are 93,694 packs. Of the third class, produced from Essex, Surry, Wiltshire, Dorsetshir, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Worcestershire, and Shropshire, there are supposed to be 53 486 packs ; and of the fourth and last class, the proc'uee of Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, and Hereford, is estimated at 24,450 packs.