together the following details of it, upon the authenticity of which they
may rely. The person who foresaw the advantage to be derived from the
growth of fine wool in New South Wales, and who commenced the culture of
it in that colony, was Mr. John M'Arthur. So far back, I believe, as the
year 1793, not long after the establishment of the first settlement at
Sydney, this gentleman commenced sheep-farming, and about two years
afterwards he obtained a ram and two ewes from Captain Kent, of the royal
navy, who had brought them, with some other stock for the supply of the
settlement, from the Cape of Good Hope, to which place a flock of these
sheep had been originally sent by the Dutch government. Sensible of the
importance of the acquisition, Mr. M'Arthur began to cross his
coarse-fleeced sheep with Merino blood; and, proceeding upon a system, he
effected a considerable improvement in the course of a few years. So
prolific was the mixed breed, that in ten years, a flock which originally
consisted of not more than seventy Bengal sheep, had increased in number
to 4,000 head, although the wethers had been killed as they became fit for
slaughter. It appears, however, that as the sheep approached to greater
purity of blood, their extreme fecundity diminished.

TO REAR MERINO FLOCKS.

In 1803, Mr. M'Arthur revisited England; and there happening at the time
to be a committee of manufacturers in London from the clothing districts,
he exhibited before them samples of his wool, which were so much approved,
that the committee represented to their constituents the advantages which
would result from the growth of fine wool, in one of the southern
dependencies of the empire. In consequence of this a memorial was
transmitted to His Majesty's government, and Mr. M'Arthur's plans having
been investigated by a Privy Council, at which he was present, they were
recommended to the government as worthy of its protection. With such