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10 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, rSyb. vine, for the excellent wines of these colonies were among the most characteristic of their productions shown at the Exhibition. Another lesson taught by the Australian sheep-husbandry, and con firmed by notes taken at the Exhibition, is the advantage of close breeding. Mr. Graham says that for a period of twenty-five years he was engaged in testing the value of in-and-in breeding. By in-breed- ing he does not mean indiscriminate breeding without selection, but, on the contrary, breeding with judicious selection,—that is, rejecting the faulty sheep, male and female, and breeding only from the perfect. With this qualification, he remarks, “ I say that I never saw an entire flock of really good sheep that was not wholly composed of in-bred animals, and I think it scarcely possible to breed good sheep without having recourse to in-breeding.” It was interesting to observe that these views were confirmed by memoranda attached to Australian fleeces displayed at the Exhibition ; memoranda made, of course, without reference to any theory of breeding. Some of these memoranda were as follows : “Gore & Co., Yandella, Queensland. Combing ewe, bred pure within their own flocks for 21 years; bred in paddocks entirely on indigenous grasses.” “ C. B. Fisher, East Haddington Hill, Darling Downs District, Queensland. This clip has been bred in Adelaide, South Australia, 40 years in-and-in to their own blood, and has been acclimated in Queensland 7 years; pronounced by Chamber of Commerce to be the most essentially combing wool.” “George Clark, Queensland. Sheep improved by Tasmanian Merinos bred pure for more than 50 years.” “ C. H. Grison, Queensland. Bred within their own blood many years. Undoubtedly one object of this close-breeding with large flock-masters is to preserve the special characteristics of the wool approved by their old controversies.” It is well known that so uniform are the characteristics in certain flocks, and so high the probity of the growers, that the clips of some proprietors are purchased by the same customers from year to year almost without testing. This uniformity and reliability is one of the great advantages to the manufacturer of having sheep-husbandry pursued on a large scale. He may select from one or two clips with certainty the precise wools adapted to his fabrics. This advantage has already been perceived in purchases from California, where wool- growing in large flocks has begun to be pursued by capitalists, as in Australia, systematically. Sheep-husbandry being—not even excepting the gold-mining inter-