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24 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. tenal for clothing for one sex, as formerly, supplied it for both. The Southern Hemisphere responded to this new and increased demand for Merino wool, and the fine sheep-husbandry of the world was modified to produce the combing-wools required for the new fabrics. To France must be accorded the honor of creating the most charac teristic feature of the sheep-husbandry and wool-manufacture of the present century. The scientific breeders of France, not contenting themselves with producing animals surpassing all others of their race in size and weight of fleece and length of staple, have more recently aimed to develop, together with the special qualities of the Merino fibre, the meat-producing qualities and precocity of development, which for merly were regarded as the exclusive aptitudes of the English races. They have succeeded in transforming the Merino into the most perfect mutton-sheep, having the same precocity and giving as much meat as the South Downs, reputed to be the best producers of flesh, while, at the same time, the total weight of the fleece is increased without augmenting the diameter of the fibre. In a word, the Merino, while becoming a mutton-sheep, preserves all its wool-bearing quali ties. This method of development, requiring of course abundant food, should be suggestive to the occupants of the valuable lands in this country contiguous to city markets, where the merely pastoral sheep-husbandry has declined. We must not pass by another product of French sheep-husbandry, perhaps the most instructive, in a scientific point of view, of any in the Exhibition, as illustrating the wonderful results which skillful breeding may accomplish by happily improving the accidents of nature. The product referred to is the famous Mauchamp wool, admirable specimens of which, both in staple and yarn, were exhib ited by Mr. George W. Bond, who had personally visited the creator of this race in France, from whom he obtained his specimens. The characteristics of this wool are that to a fineness equal to that of Merino, and a length of staple which surpasses it, is added a lustre absolutely comparable to that of silk; a lustre so marked that, in a challis made with a silk warp and weft of Mauchamp wool, the stuff, which contained only one-eighth of silk and seven-eighths of wool, was as brilliant as if made entirely of silk. The history of the creation of this race is so instructive that it may be briefly stated. In 1828 there was accidentally produced on the farm Mauchamp, in France, cultivated by M. Graux, a ram from a flock of Merinos, having a head of unusual size and a tail of great length, and also a wool remarkable for its softness, and, above all,