ORIGIN OF THE WEALTH OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 1, Issue 5, 1 March 1849, Page 1

ORIGIN OF THE WEALTH OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE.

(Continued from our last.) Next in importance, to the natives of New Zealand, after ship building and the keeping of horses, would he the breeding of sheep and cattle. Hud the English people not attended to nil these persuits, they never would have be- , come so wealthy as they now are. Tliecausu of their migrating to such far countries as New Zealand and New South Wales was that [ from the increase of their numbers—resulting j from the state of plenty in _ which they , lived, owing to the possession of such property —lhf-y found that their country, England, was too small for themselves, for j their children, and for their children's . children. Their ships, too, were so numerous that additional employment was required for them, to prevent their lying idle in the rivers; and the transport hither of men, of cattle, and of merchandize, afforded them that employment. In some of the mountainous parts of England, where, from its height the land is exposed to cold winds, and in other parts, similarly bleak, near to the sea coast, wheat, potatoes, and barley may not be grown advantageously. There is, however, capital grass upon these lands; and here great numbers of sheep are kept, and tho sale of their wool and carcase is very profitable to those who possess them. Indeed, for so long a period has this been the case, that the woolen goods of the English—their fine cloth, their shawls, and their blankets—have been both better in fabric and cheaper, than those made by any other people of the European nations. To tho countries to which English people migrate they take with them those things which have conduced to their comfort and wealth at home; and endeavour to assimilate their condtion in the new country to thai in which they lived in their own. And so there have been brought to New Zealand horses of the fast st as well as the most useful breeds, cat tie in great numbers, goats, well adapted to ihc country, nnd •he<p of the kind bearing the finest and most valuable wool. There are many parts of New Zealand where the country is very well adapted to sheep keeping—gross lands, where the so.l is not altogether fitting foi agricultural improvement, or only capable of being cultivated in detached spots. Here the natives should keep sheep and cattle. Listen, and I will show to you how last sheep will increase in number, and you will [then be able to judge of the advantage and profit of keeping them. ... The ewe, the female of the sheep kind, begins to breed when about twelve months I old; but as it does not generally produce a >

fine lamb nt that age, careful farmers prefer letting tiro owes remain until they an; eighteen mouths old before tlioy allow ihem to bleed. The ewe £nc-s in lamb f'.ve months, ami then brings fortli generally one lamb, frequently two, and sometimes three and even more, ut a birth. Now if ten ovps, already in lamb, be purchased, they will bear ten lambs in live months, of v/bieh ten, five will probably be ewes and five rams; at once increasing the flock lo twenty. At the end of twelve months more, the ten old ewes will again bear, sny nine more lambs, adding perhaps four ewes and five rams, to tlie flock, wlrch will in all amount to twenty-nine sheep. At the termination of another year, the ten oldest eyes will iiiiain breed, as will also the five ewes which were lambed the first year. These will produce about fomteen more lamb?, of which seven will bo ewes ; and the flock will amount to forty-three in all. Again, after twelve months, the ton old ewes will lamb, as will also the five younger ewes, and the four which were lambed sevent en months after the time when the flock wis purchased. These will yield nineteen 1 imbs lo the flock, of which about nine will 1)5 ewes. The flock, now, at the end of three y ?ars, amounts to sixty-two ; of which thirtyJive will be ewes and twenty-seven rams. Now, in addition to the increase in their numbers, the sheep produce a very considerable quantity of wool, which is shored every year in the warm season, when the sheep can ber.t stand the consequent exposure, The wool i?-:iit oil' w'tb.shears or scissors; previous lo which.clipping the eheep is washed for about five minutes in a i unnini; stream, J.'i oulcr to cle.uiso Sbmwool from-Its"'riltiiriil gieasincsy, and the • dust v/hicli has collected about it. A full grown sheep—ewe or ram—will yield at the clipping, each year about 3 lbs. of wool, and the lambs about 2 lbs.; but the quantity of wool yielded depends very much upon the size of the breed of the animal, and the nature of the pasture which it has been upon, and also, materially, upon tjie climate of the country in which the sheep is bred and kept; as in hot countries the wool is thin and scanty, and in colder is both thicker and longer. Now in the year in which the ten sheep that T have been alluding to, might be kept, thev would produce 30 11)5. weight of wool, and their ten lambs 20 Iba. In the first year afterwards, the lambs having grown to their full size, the twenty would yield 00 lbs. while the nine lambs of the old ewes would yield 18 lbs. In the second year there would 1)3 twenty-nine sheep bearing each 3 lbs. of wool, which would nmount to S7 lbs., and nlso fourteen lambs., bearing each 2 lbs., which would yield 28 lbs. In the third year, being the time of tho fourth clipping after the ten owes were purchased, there would be forty-three sheep bearing 3 lbs. each, and nineteen lambs bearing 2 lbs., 6' vin s together 180 lbs. of wool, and thus the produce of wool in three years, from the ten sheep first purchased, and their young, will amount to 330 lbs. Wool cannot always bu sold nt tho same piice in the towns. In some years more wool is wanted in Europe than in others, and then a higher price for it can be obtained ; (bus, occasionally it is worth sixteen prnco « liound, at other times fourteen pence, and a shilling. It U frequently worth nboiil tenpence, and sometimes no', move than sixpence u pound. Supposing in the Um ■ year.i, duiiu'f which 111j sheep may have been kept, the wool lias been worth lenpcnce a pound in the towns, then the sum of thirliKii p. -inds fifteen shillings, a sum considonibiy 1a:..0r than tho cost price of the sheep to tho <>■ rev will have accrued to him from keeping t!:cm. I have not made any allowance in tho foregoing calculations for "the death of the sheep, nor for the reduced quantity of wool which is produced when the animal is diseased, which it sometimes becomes if not carefully a'.tended to ; but amongst young sheep, deaths, except by accident, are not frequent, and the number of the flock is generally kept up by the twin lambs which the ewes may bear. Had I continued the calculation of the iii-c-case of sheep and wool through nn additional two years, it would have bren seen that the flack so produced from the first ten sheep would, in tint time, have become very numerous, tnd their yielding of wuol very profiluulo. (7b be continued.)