A Tour in New Zealand.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 942, 14 May 1881, Page 2 (Supplement)

A Tour in New Zealand.

No. IX.—Vermont Merinos. [From the Melbourne Leader]. Leaving the rich valley of the Taieri and taking train for Dunedin, a ten miles’ journey is make through very hilly country, the railway winding along deep gorges, and piercing the hills at two points by means of long tunnels. Dunedin is a pretty town containing about 35,000 inhabitants’ and being the largest town in New Zealand, it constitutes one of the best local maskets for farm produce. It is owing to its nearness to Dunedin, as well as to its productiveness, that the land at the Taieri is worth from £2O to £3O per acre. As I shall have an opportunity of referring to the town of Dunedin on my return journey, I shall not delay here at present, but proceed at once to deal with Mr. G. L. Sise s stud flock of American merinos. Mr. Sise is an American gentleman, carrying on the business of general merchant in Dunedin, and, like so many of his countrymen, he keeps a farm in the country upon which to enjoy himself during his leisure. The Ashlands estate, consisting of 1,300 acres, situated on Moeraki Bay, about 50 miles north of Dunedin, is Mr. Sise’s fancy farm, and it is admirably suited to his requirements. A small portion of the farm consists of a rich all iivial'flat, well suited for agriculture, and the remainder of low, lightlygrassed hills, upon which the soil is poor. As the home of a stud flock of pure merinos, the farm is considered all the more suitable owing the pastures being of only medium richness. The hilly character of the land makes it lend itself readily to the pluming ana orchard culture which are being carried on, and the situaiion of the estate, near the Moeraki Bay —the bay of “ peaceful rest,” as the Maori name implies,—seems all that could be desired for a city man’s fancy farm. Here Mr. Sise devotes his leisure to cultivating Vermont wool and American humor. He has a story which he good naturedly puts upon himself. An old greasy nigger, with a bashed stove-pipe hat, called at the office one day to beg a subscription for another nigger who was in poor circumstances. As Mr. Sise was a little backward in his response, the nigger said, “ You know you and me is about the only two Americans here, so I guess we’ve got to help.” The Ashlands’ sheep are the only pure flock of Vermont merinos in New Zealand, and, I believe, the only one in the Australian colonies. The Vermont sheep have attracted much attention since they distinguished themselves at the International Exhibition at Hamburgh in 1863. There, in competition with 1,761 sheep from Prussian, Austrian, German, and French flocks, they obtained first prize for best ram and best ewe. The flock which obtained these honors was bred from pure Spanish sheep brought over to America by Mr. Geo. Campbell about the beginning of the century, and it is from the same celebrated flock that Mr. Sise has imported his stud merinos. Beginning in 1865, Mr. Sise has imported ewes and rams on ten different occasions, and has bred carefully for purity of blood and money value per sheep. There is no doubt that a great benefit has been conferred upon the Colonies by the importation of these celebrated sheep, and they are particularly interesting at the present time, when the question of the merits of the different types of merino is being discussed. Beginning with pure Vermont merino sheep, from the Campbell flock, and renewing from time to time from the same source, Mr. Sise has from the first selected for a particular type. While not neglecting the quality of the wool, the main points aimed at have been strength of constitution and the even clothing of the belly and other parts of the body. Judging from some of the most recent importations, the Vermont sheep are very wrinkly, like the French breed, but Mr. Sise does not look upon this as a desirable point, and has consequently selected in the opposite direction. “ Dictator,” a ram which has been a celebrated prizetaker in .America, his last triumph being to take the leading nr ze for the best ram with ton of his o ■ n projenv, has just recently been mi;mrio.i to \shland.s. is a qmire framed, .short legged. he;iv\ riicep, with a fine fleece, of great

density. He is very wrinkly on the neck, shoulders, and quarters, having also a heavy dewlap and apron. All parts of the carcase are w'ell clothed, although the eye is clear, and the face clean, white and velvety. The staple is long and moderately fine, but the most striking feature of the wool is its density. It seems to have all the closeness of the German fleece without its shortness of staple. The heavy fleece and square heavy carcase of Dictator gives a good impression in favor of the profitableness of the Vermont sheep. The Ash lands flock, which consists of less than 2000 sheep, divided into | three subdivisions of different degrees of excellence, shows less wrinkliness than Dictator, but possesses the same striking characteristics in regard to frame and fleece. The frame is more square than is usual in merinos, and the legs are very short, giving the sheep a rather small appearance for their weigkt. They are very nuggety, however, and the live weight of the rams varies from 140 lb. to 160 lb. As a strong, healthy constitution is one of the chief points sought after, no housing or artificial feeding is resorted to, and the natural pastures not being rich, the sheep are never highly fed, points which it will be necessary to remember in comparing the weights of the carcase and the wool with those of other flocks. A good top-knot, even clothing on the belly, and the fleece carried well down on the legs to the knee and the hock are striking points in these sheep, while the noseis straight, with the eye clear, and face smooth. The wool has a long staple, and its quality is strong and moderately fine, while the closeness of the staple must tend to produce a very heauy fleece. The wool is sold in the grease, and the average price obtained for the olio übl’Yit'/''uh A lew notes as to the last year’s clip will indicate the weight of wool obtained. From 145 wet ewes an average of 9| lb. per head was clipped, the weights varying from 61 lb. to 13 lb. Five of the rams gave lb. of wool, and one ram that had only been fed a few weeks for showing cut 21 lb. There is no doubt that a heavy clip in the grease may represent a very light weight when washed ; but there is every reason to believe that the loss in washing would be below the average in the Ashlands sheep, owing to the absence of artificial feeding and medium quality of the pasture. The stud book plays" an important part in managing the flock, and Mr. Sise’s book seems very simply arranged Each sheep has its number marked upon its ear, the mark being stamped in Indian ink on the inside of the ear. The stud book has columns ruled off under the following headings: — “ Sheep’s number,” “ age,” “ size,’” “ lambs,” “ breding qualities,” “ length of staple,” “ weight of fleece,” “ quality of wool,” “ thickness of fleece,” “ yolkiness,” “ covering on belly,” “ covering on head,” “ wrinkliness,” “ constitution.” The number marked ou the sheep’s ear is placed in the first column, and in the other columns the qualities of the sheep are indicated by figures from Iro 5’ Thus lin the quality column would indicate very poor, 5 very good, 3 medium, and so on. The Ashland merinos are being introduced to several of the New Zealand flocks, and they are generally well spoken of by those who have tried them. Merino sheep are not so generally kept in the Colony as in Australia, although a few good flocks have been established. In the hilly and mountainous country, of which the bulk of the pastoral runs consist, the merino breed is generally preferred, as being best suited to the poor pastures, but on the rich flat country, where artificial grasses and turnips are cultivated, different breeds of long wools are most in favor. Lincolns, Leicesters and Romney Marshes are kept upon the flat lands, and there are some excellent pure flocks of these breeds in different parts of the country but although there are a few good merino flocks, the pure breeding of the fine wool shaep seems to receive less general attention than the longwool. Crossbreds are very generally kept upon both farms and stations, and on all kinds of land, the cross between the merino and Leicester being most in favor as calculated to give a heavy clip of moderately fine wool from a large-framed sheep. lam inclined to think that the pure bred longwools, such as Lincolns, would be , more profitable than crossbreds, while i on the hilly country more attention to 1 the purity of the merino, would cer|tainl\ hoof great advantage.