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32 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. received too late to obtain the official award it deserved. The sam ples were well arranged and exceedingly instructive, especially as supplemented by the estimates of the number of sheep, which these gentlemen were so capable of giving with near approach to accuracy. This estimate is as follows: Number of Sheep. Number of Sheep. California . 6,750,000 New York . . 1,936,500 Delaware 23,600 Ohio . . 4,546,600 Georgia 271,200 Oregon 710,500 Illinois . 1,311,000 Pennsylvania . 1,640,500 Indiana . 1,250,000 Rhode Island 25,300 Iowa . . 1,663,900 Tennessee . 341,700 Kansas 123,900 Texas . . 1,691,500 Kentucky 683,600 Vermont 490,500 Louisiana 68,800 Virginia 356,400 Maine . 225,900 West Virginia 544,5°° Maryland 141,200 Wisconsin . 1,162,800 Massachusetts 76,300 Michigan • 3.450.600 Not given, Census of 1870 Missouri . 1,284,200 Colorado 120,928 Nebraska 48,900 Utah . 59,672 New Hampshire . 242,200 Wyoming 6,409 New Jersey . 125,800 Montana 2,024 The following States and Territories were not represented. We place against them the number of sheep in 1870, since which time some of them have immensely increased their flocks: Connecticut Minnesota New Mexico . North Carolina 83,884 133,343 619,438 463,43s South Carolina Washington Territory Mississippi Florida . 124,594 44,063 232,732 26,599 There are some general considerations relating to American sheep- husbandry not yet referred to which should not be omitted. Sheep- husbandry in the older States is apparently declining, or is rather in that condition of suspense which precedes a transition to another form. In most of the New England States the number of sheep has greatly diminished, as in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Vermont, however, still occupies an important position as a sheep-producing State, and in one respect is the first. The dis tinctive character of the sheep-husbandry of Vermont is the breeding of Merino sheep, and especially of rams, for exportation to other States and abroad. The influence of Jarvis and Hammond, and of the choice flocks of the purest Spanish races, introduced by the former, is felt throughout the State. The objection has been made to the Vermont Merinos that with the object of obtaining heavy fleeces there has been an undue development of yolk. The best breeders,