Volltext Seite (XML)
GENERAL REPORT OF THE JUDGES OF GROUP IX. 15 La Rioja Tucuman Mendoza San Juan J u juy • Number. 53.932 70,000 $108,000 56,000 94,5°° 285,000 Value. 53356 Satta 120,200 514,621 64,930 33 1 >473 46,000 57,800,616 $84,152,145 The chief, though not to our own country the most important, portion of these exports consists of Merino wools. The exhibits of wools from the Argentine Republic, at the Exhibition, with the ex ception of that of Mr. Samuel B. Hale, scarcely did justice to the im portance of this production. The most noticeable feature was the enormous size of some of the fleeces of Merino wool of the Ram- bouillet and Negretti stock,—one fleece, a pure-bred Negretti ram, grown in eleven months and eighteen days, weighed 31 pounds; other Rambouillet fleeces weighed 25 and 27 pounds. Two pelts were shown from sheep of the same race, one of which measured 5 feet 6 inches in length, and 4 feet in width at the hips, with a staple 9 inches in length. These fleeces, although they may exhibit the recent attempts for improvement, do not illustrate the general character of the Merino wool of this country. The general characteristic of these wools is lightness of fleece, the weight not usually much exceeding three pounds in the grease to the fleece. They are fine, soft, and short, and principally suited for the card, though generally wanting in strength and nerve. Their principal defect, however, is the clinging to the fleece of the cairatilla or burr from the clover or white medoc on which these sheep feed, which seems to be inseparably connected with the productive lands and best pasturage. Notwithstanding these defects, which are obviated by burring machinery, and more recently by chemical processes applied either to the wool or to the cloth, these wools are in high esteem with the cloth-manufacturers, especially of Belgium and France. The Argentine Republic vies with Australia in representing the results of the Merino wool-culture in the last century. The raising of fine sheep was not seriously commenced until 1826, when it began with the importation of good Merino animals, with German shepherds, under the direction of Messrs. Hannah & Sheridan, whose establishment still survives. When fairly commenced the production increased with an accelerating ratio. The exports rose from 944 bales in 1832, to 3577 in 1840, an increase of 280 per cent, in eight years. In 1850, it attained 17,069 bales, an increase in ten years of 380 per cent.