Mr. Learmonth, of Ercildoun, is the donor of the munificent sum of £100 towards the funds of the Ballarat District Orphan Asylum.

Exhibitions. Intercolonial Exhibition of Australasia. An exhibition of the Products, Manufactures, and Arts of New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Victoria, will be held in Melbourne in 1866. The exhibition will open not earlier than the month of August, and will remain open for not less than two months.

It is proposed that an Exhibition of Merino Wool, open to the whole World, shall be held in London, in August, 1867; and that Prizes shall be awarded. The following gentlemen in London, have been requested to act as a committee, with power to add to their number John W. McLaren, Esq., (Messrs. James Morrison and Co.), F. G. Dalgety, Esq. (Messrs. Dalgety and Co.), F. Huth, Esq. (Messrs. F. Huth and Co.), David Aitchison, Esq. (Australian Mortgage Land and Finance Company), B. Ronald, Esq. do do, E. R. Bostock, Esq., Edward Yule, Esq., A. Elder, Esq., Edward Hamilton, Esq. M.P., – Gilchrist, Esq., Mathew Henry March, Esq. M.P., Arthur Hodgson, Esq., Sir Charles Clifford, John Morrison, Esq. Messrs. Fruhlen and Goschen, Thomas Learmonth, Phillip Russell, Samuel Wilson, William Cumming, A. S. Robertson, WM. Macredie. Melbourne, 12th Dec. 1865.

Notice – In connection with the Universal Exhibition of Merino Wool, An Intercolonnial Exhibition, under the auspices of the Ballaarat and other Pastoral and Agricultural Societies of these Colonies, will be held in the Wool Stores of Messrs. Cunningham and Macredie, in this City, on Wednesday 16th January, 1867, when Prizes will be awarded for the most valuable Bales of Washed and Greasy Wool, and for the Wool that is of the highest value per pound.

To Farmers, Capitalists and Others seeking Sure and Remunerative Investments. Sale by Auction of Exceedingly Valuable and Desirable Freehold Farms, Situate in the fertile parishes of Ercildoun and Burrumbeet. F. Everingham has been favored with instructions from Messrs. T. and S. Learmonth, of Ercildoun, to sell by auction, at Craig’s Royal Hotel, on Saturday, 24th March, commencing at twelve o’clock noon precisely, the following very choice Agricultural Farms, in lots as hereunder mentioned, together with all buildings and improvements thereon, particulars of which will be fully described on the day of the sale. The auctioneer would refrain from commenting on the above properties, were it not necessary to give some information of the property to people who have not had the pleasure of glancing over the luxuriant and productive fields in Ercildoun and Burrumbeet, which are acknowledged by all who have seen them to be the best average grain-growing districts in the colony. The farms are all in a high state of cultivation, and have been worked on the four-course system, and not impoverished as many farms have been, by continual hay cropping. The soil is of that description so much sought after by farmers of experience in this colony, viz., rich chocolate, with a depth far beyond the reach of the ploughshare. The farms are abundantly watered (and as now let), have all the necessary improvements for carrying on farming operations systematically. Any further information may be had, by applying at the office of F. Everingham, the auctioneer. Terms exceedingly liberal, declared at sale.

Monday, 26th March. At Twelve o’clock. At the Mining Exchange, Ballarat. James Baker has received instructions to sell by public auction, on the above date, Twenty 20-4000th Shares in the Buninyong Gold Mining Company, (Registered), Buninyong, at the risk of Mr. Michael Walsh, Terms at sale.

In the Legislative Assembly yesterday. On the vote of £2,950 for the Acclimatisation Society, Mr. Longmore objected that the Acclimatisation Society had spent large sums of public money, and had not done as much good as many private individuals. They had introduced monkeys, rabbits, and Egyptian geese, which were not wanted, and had held a couple of dog shows, when the dogs were, a nuisance in the streets. Private persons, by introducing bulls and horses, had done far more good than the society. Mr. Bindon explained that the society had nothing to do with the introduction of monkeys or rabbits. He quite agreed with the hon. Member that persons who had introduced bulls had conferred great benefits to the country, but as a rule such enterprising persons were the principal supporters of the society. With regard to the dog shows, so far from spending public money over them, the society had made £100 profit by them. The society had been largely instrumental in introducing the alpaca, Angora goat, and salmon. The utilitarian character of those achievements could not be over-estimated.

A meeting of the committee for the universal exhibition of merino wool was held yesterday at the Australasian Wool Stores; Present – Mr. Thos. Learmonth, of Ercildoun (in the chair), Mr. Philip Russell, Mr. A. S. Robertson, Mr. Thos. Shaw, Mr. Wm. Macredie. The following men made up the committee: The Hon. W. Degraves, Mr. George Cumming, and Mr. John Cumming, of Darlington; Mr. Mackersey, of Cavendish; Mr. Chas. Officer, of Mount Talbot; Mr. J. L. Currie, of Lara; Mr. Adam Smith, of Apsley; Mr. Robert Simson, of Langi Kalkal; Mr. C. H. Macknight, of Dunmore; Mr. John Winter, Jun., of Colbinabbin.

It makes mention that “His Majesty the Emperor of the French be requested in carrying out the objects of the exhibition.”

The Committee of the Ballarat Bible and Tract Society has received a most encouraging report from the Rev. R. T. Cummins and Joseph Attwood Doane appointed to wait upon the principal residents for subscriptions and donations…which amounted to over £92 including £50 from Mr. Thomas Learmonth, of Ercildoun.

Acclimatisation Society. A letter was read from the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society, asking that Mr. Learmonth, of Ercildoun, might be allowed to purchase twelve pure Angora goats, in order to carry on the breeding of them at Ercildoun. Although there was a strong feeling in favor of letting such an eminent breeder as Mr. Learmonth have the goats, it was ultimately decided that the society should not part with any of these valuable animals until the breeding stock amounted to at least 200 ewes.

A lengthened conversation took place as to the advisability of forming a regular zoological collection at the society’s gardens, Royal-park, and strong arguments were brought forward in support of this view, but nothing definite was decided upon, the discussions being postponed. The superintendent reported the birth of an Axis fawn, and the arrival of two pairs of Wonga pigeons from Mr. Moore, of Sydney.

Ploughing Match. Tynan’s ploughs as usual were present in the greatest number, there being in the three classes fourteen implements by that maker. The other ploughs were, five Sellars, four by Jamieson, and one by Grant and Lennan respectively. The prizes in Class A are the gifts of Messrs. T. and S. Learmonth, of Ercildoun. First prize £6, second do £4, third do a Scotch collar presented by Messrs. Kilmister and Purdue; fourth do, a silver mounted Scotch bridle, presented by Messrs. Allan and Dunn. First prize John Draffin, ploughman; David Draffin, owner; Tynan, maker.

The Skipton Sheep Show. The champion ram was chosen from a pen of first-prize aged rams belonging to Mr. J. L. Currie, and, with the rest of the pen, it was a really excellent model of quantity and quality combined. In this class, for aged rams, a good opinion may be formed of the closeness of the competition from the fact that a magnificent pen of Messrs. Learmonths’ rams, showing both breed and quality, only attained fifth place. In all the other classes the Messrs. Learmonth obtained the first honours, winning also the champion prize for the best ewe in the yard.

It stated that the judges were much divided in opinion between the champion ewe and one of Mr. John Cumming’s and that the judge had every reason to feel themselves placed in a difficulty, for both exhibits were very evenly matched. Should the breeding of sheep advance – as the Skipton shows for some years past demonstrate that it most unquestionably has advanced – such difficulties in choice will become one of the features at future exhibitions ; and the wool export trade of the colony – second only in importance to that of gold – will be viewed with a wider regard in other countries than even now. The sale of the rams was held in the afternoon, and in the evening the annual dinner took place at the Ripon Hotel.

The Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society Annual Show.
Class D. Neat Cattle. Hereford bull, aged (imported or colonial) First prize £6 to T. and S. Learmonth, Ercildoun, for their Hereford bull under three years old, bred at Ercildoun, by Egerton, an imported Hereford bull. First prize £5 for their Hereford cow, aged (imported or colonial). First prize £2 for their pure Hereford heifer, bred at Ercildoun. First prize £2 for their pure Hereford yearling heifer, bred at Ercildoun. Class E. Sheep. First prize £8 for the best three Merino rams of any age. First prize of £8 for the best three Merino ewes. First prize of £8 for the best three Merino rams, two-tooth. Second prize of £4 for the best three Merino ewes, two-tooth. First prize went to John Bell, half and quarter-bred Steiger. Two Champion prizes for the best Merino ram shown in the yard and for the best Merino ewe of £5 each.

Letters to the Editor. Mr Learmonth and Mr Rolfe.
Sirs, In the approaching contest for the representation of the South-Western Province it is highly desirable that the real question at issue should be kept prominently before the electors, and that they should not be led away from it by the specious clap-trap which certain designing politicians know so well to use. One section of the ministerialists maintain that the question about to be fought is that of protection versus free-trade, while another says that it is the people versus the squatters. By putting these cries prominently forward it is hoped that a few of the more ignorant of the electors will be so far deluded as to vote for Mr. Rolfe, either on the ground that he is a protectionist, or against Mr. Learmonth, because they say he is a squatter. As regards the question of free-trade and protection, the supporters of the latter policy make a great mistake in supposing that it is of much importance to them to get the Council filled with members holding their views. The Upper House does not initiate the policy of the country. It never has done so, and never will do so. Its duty is simply to check hasty legislation, whether it be introduced by the protectionists or the free-traders of the Assembly, and to see it possible that no measure becomes law till the country is fairly ripe for it. As it is well known and admitted even by the more knowing of the protectionists themselves, that one of the greatest dangers to the cause of protection is the rashness and injudicious haste of many of its advocates, it seems to me that a free-trade member of the Upper House, of a quiet and moderate turn of mind, is more likely to advance the real interests of protection, than an extreme and injudicious protectionist; for it must be remembered that whenever the country pronounces decisively and clearly for any policy, so long as that policy is constitutional, the Upper House will not oppose it, but will pass it as it lately passed the tariff. But the greatest objection to Mr. Learmonth is an insuperable one, say the rabid ministerialists. He is a squatter, and therefore an enemy of the people in general, and of the Land Act in particular. To this I simply reply that Mr. Learmonth is not a squatter, and is not opposed to the Land Act. A squatter is one who occupies Crown lands, which it is his interest, of course, to occupy as cheaply and as long as possible. Now, Mr. Learmonth owns the land he occupies, having purchased it from the Crown, and the Land Act of Mr. Grant affects him as much as it does a freeholder in Lydiard street or the Main road, and no more. More than this – Mr. Learmonth in his contest at the last general election with Mr. Longmore, distinctly repudiated having the slightest intention of opposing or upsetting the Land Act, and said that if returned, he would support the honest administration of that measure, so far as it lay in his power. So much then for this bug-bear of Mr. Learmonth’s enemies. It is neither love for the Land Act, nor a desire for protection, that animates the breasts of Mr. Learmonth’s opponents, whatever it may be with some of their deluded followers. No, Sir, the ground of the opposition to him lies deeper still. Mr. Learmonth is an uncompromising supporter of the law and the Constitution; that if the Constitution be imperfect, it must be amended in a constitutional manner, and not broken to suit the wretched exigencies of a baffled faction; that, however powerful a party or a ministry may be, there is one thing which in a British community is more powerful still, and that is the law. It is because Mr. Learmonth holds these views – because he wishes to see the Constitution respected and the law upheld, that he is opposed so virulently and denounced so unsparingly. And it is because Mr. Rolfe is on the other side – because he adopts Mr. Higinbotham’s view, that there is no necessity for an Upper House, and that it should be regarded as a nullity, and that the law should be respected only so long as it accords with the views of the Ministry. It is because Mr. Rolfe allows himself to be made the humble tool of the party holding these views that he now comes before the electors of the South-Western Province with all the weight and authority of a ministerial candidate, and asks them to choose him in preference to a gentleman like Mr. Learmonth. I trust the result of the polling will show Mr. Rolfe that he has mistaken his constituency, and that the electors of the South-Western Province have too much intelligence and too great a love for the glorious principles of the British Constitution to be hoodwinked by any of the specious misstatements so plentifully and assiduously placed before them either by him or his paid and unpaid agents. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, Constitution.

Country News. The Dog Nuisance. On 28th September, thirty purebred Merino sheep, the property of Messrs Learmonth at Ercildoun, were worried by dogs. These valuable sheep were depasturing in the White Stone Lagoon paddock, and every attention possible was being paid to them, as they were a choice lot, and for which the Messrs Learmonth had been offered £5 per head as lambs. There is a strong suspicion that this wholesale slaughter was committed by some of the dogs from the Springs, which dogs infest the neighborhood to the danger of such valuable property as that just sacrificed. This is not the first time the Messrs Learmonth have been the sufferers from a similar cause, and it is to be hoped that the owners of the dogs will be found, and such an example made as will deter others from allowing their dogs to be at large, to the detriment of their neighbors. A reward of £5 has been offered to any person who will give such information as will lead to prove the ownership of the dogs. Ballarat Star, October 3rd.

Election Notices. Election for the South-Western Province. To Charles Ibbotson, Esq., Mayor of Newtown and Chilwell; Gilbert Duncan, Esq., Mayor of Ballarat; Geo. Clendenning, Esq., Mayor of Ballarat East; R. De Bruce Johnstone, Esq., Mayor of Geelong; and the 386 gentlemen resident in Geelong, Colac, Ballarat, Warrenheip, Western-road, &c., electors of the South-Western Province, who have signed the various requisitions that have been placed in my hands.
Gentlemen,
It is with much reluctance that, at your desire, I leave the seclusion of the life I have hitherto led among you as a private citizen. I am aware that you repose this confidence in me, not from any peculiar fitness in myself for the office you wish me to seek, but because I have lived among you these many years, and have feelings and interests identical with your own. I feel that it is also because, having a deep stake in the country, you wish me to stand by you in a time of danger, that we may together uphold constitutional government and maintain reverence for the law. On the political questions that have agitated the country during the last eighteen months you already know my sentiments. I come before you as a free trader. But at the same time I say, that if we are to have protection, let it be protection for all. Let us protect the agricultural above any other class. Why should we not? Why not have a bread tax, and a meat tax, as well as a tax on wearing apparel and other necessaries of life, in order to encourage native industry? That, indeed, would be equal justice, if justice it can be called. But, gentlemen, I cannot think that the country is prepared for such a suicidal measure. I think that there is much misapprehension on this point, and therefore I advocate the principles of free trade to their fullest extent, and believe that these great truths are of universal application – that they are adapted to all countries and all circumstances. I believe that it is not the province of Government to create monopolies, but to encourage the freest exercise of enterprise, capital and industry; and that in proportion as this is done so will our resources be called forth, and the prosperity of the country will rest on a sure foundation. Allow me to say further, gentlemen, that for a community of Englishmen to revive fallacies regarding the application of capital and labour, and the free interchange of commodities, that have been exploded over and over again for the greatest thinkers of modern times, is, to me, one of the strangest developments of the age we live in. With regard to the reform of the Upper House, about which so much has been said, I am willing that such modifications should be made in the franchise as would meet the altered circumstances of the colony since the Act of the Constitution was framed; but I could not consent to make it a mere echo of the Lower House of Assembly. To do so would be virtually to destroy its functions, and take away from us the only safeguard of our liberties in times of popular excitement and error. Holding these sentiments, and at the same time anxious to promote in a constitutional manner all liberal measures, that may tend to the progress and welfare of the country, I offer myself as a candidate for your suffrages. And remain, gentlemen, Your obedient servant, Thomas Learmonth. Ercildoun, 25th August, 1866.

The Merino in Victoria. The Ercildoun Flock. What the Camden sheep have done for New South Wales the Australian merinos bred by Messrs. T. and S. Learmonth have done for Victoria, the sheep owners of this colony being far more indebted to these gentlemen than to any other breeders or importers here for the improvements of their flocks. It naturally follows, then, that after the short sketch of the sheep now at Dunmore, I must give in a few words of the history of the Ercildoun sheep, for the information of those not already acquainted with it. The mode of breeding adopted by the Messrs. Learmonth is pretty generally known. Believing as they do in the peculiar and especial merits of the climate of these colonies, they have had no admixture of foreign blood for many years past, but trust altogether to careful selection, and the weeding, when necessary, of pure animals of their own breeding, for keeping up their stud flocks. And this system, and the fine pastures over which the sheep range, although even these failed last year, have been all sufficient, as the prize lists each year of Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, and Skipton, and the prices obtained for the thousands of rams sold, very plainly testify. But before saying more of the mode of breeding, it will be better to show from what strains of blood the flock is derived.

Originally there were two flocks, the one made up of selections from different flocks in Tasmania, and the other descended from a few pure sheep, and with the last alone I have now to do, as the other was disposed of some years ago. The present flock, then, of pure or pedigree sheep is derived from the descendants of animals selected in Germany and taken to Tasmania, nearly forty years since, by Mrs. Forlonge, mother to the gentleman so well known here in connexion with squatting pursuits. This little flock was kept pure, and afterwards sent over to this colony and established at Werribee, and the first rams were sold from it somewhere about the year 1840. It became the property of Captains Montagu and Swanston, and was not long at the Werribee before it was divided, the one half going to the care of Mr. Mitchell, at Mount Macedon, the other half to the station of Messrs. Swanston and Willis, on the Glenelg. In 1846, the portion at Mount Macedon had increased to about 500, and was purchased by the Messrs. Learmonth. For the ewes so obtained, rams were selected by Mr. Shaw, senior, in Tasmania; all of Mr. Kermode’s breeding, and afterwards some rams were selected by the same gentleman from the Camden flock at Mount Hope. This obtaining of rams from a distance was only practical during a few years, since which time no fresh blood has been admitted, excepting on one occasion, when a ram, the produce of sheep imported from Germany by Captain Stanley Carr, of which I will have more to say by and by, was used for a while. This was an animal aparently of great merit, but his progeny were not equal to those of pure Ercildoun blood, and were all discarded from the breeding flock. During the last few years there has been a marked improvement in the length of the wool and the weight of the fleece, but whether owing to the mode of breeding and system of selection within their own blood, or to the climate and pasture, or to all these causes combined, it is hard to say. Certain it is that the improvement is very marked, and the blood must be right, or other flocks would not have derived such benefit as they have from the use of Ercildoun rams. There are now 1,485 breeding ewes, besides the young ones coming on, and the usual proportion of young and reserved rams, so that there is ample room for weeding, and for the proper mating of animals with the desired peculiarities. This can only be done thoroughly and effectually when a flock becomes tolerably large, before which time the niceties and minutiae of breeding are out of the question. Excellent individual animals have always been produce-able from Ercildoun, but now uniformity of excellence will begin to be looked for. So highly is the blood of Mr. Kermode’s sheep valued by the Messrs. Learmonth, that, besides their own pure flock, they have now a small flock entirely of that strain descended from ewes picked for them by Mr. Thos. Shaw, junior, a few years since in Tasmania, before Mr. Kermode began to use German blood so freely, and thus to spoil his sheep, according to the admirers of Australian merinos. With these ewes no other than rams of their own blood are used, so that this will afford a fair test of the advantages or disadvantages of in-breeding from a most valuable strain of blood, as this undoubtedly is. Of the exact origin of Mr. Kermode’s sheep I can learn nothing for certain, but know that they, like many others of the Tasmania flocks, were good long before settlement commenced here, and the blood leaves its mark indelibly wherever it is introduced, showing beyond all other strains its right to the attribute of high quality. In Tasmania these sheep are rather small, and it will be seen how much they can be increased in size and improved in other respects by change of pasture and climates. Of the appearance of the Ercildoun sheep I need scarcely speak, so well are they known. Their large size is attributed, and no doubt, justly, to the abundance of feed which they usually have, but they are not pampered in any way, and have to take their chance of the vicissitudes of the seasons. They have a fine richly grassed country to run over, but last year there was such a scarcity of feed that the wool was falling off the sheeps’ backs from actual starvation. Nor need I say much about the wool, which is all of the true Australian character, long, and at the same time fine combing wool, with great softness and strength of staple. It is aparently becoming longer every year the difference in length between samples saved ten years ago and those taken now being very great, and being quite apparent between those of the intermediate years. Although, if we are to take the opinion of the judges at the exhibition of Victorian wools, held in January, 1853, at Clough’s Warehouse, there was little room for improvement even then, as they say in their report of the first prize eighty fleeces of washed wool.

“We consider this to be the best sample of wool ever exhibited in the colony. Its quality, length of staple, and condition precisely meet all the requirements of the manufacturer. The staple, whilst of extraordinary length, retains the soft and silky feel requisite for the manufacture of the finest fabrics. In short, in every particular this sample is exceptional, and we have never, either here or elsewhere, seen a wool the growth of which it is more desirable to encourage.” And again of the greasy wool they say, – “A beautifully bred wool, and commendable in every respect for quality, length, strength, and body. It comprises every requisite that can be desired for manufacturing purposes.”

On that occasion the Messrs. Learmonth took the first prize in both classes, while at the Intercolonial Show in 1865 they stood second on the list to Mr. Degraves for washed wool, and first for unwashed wool. Of the five judges last time only two were the same as before, yet they report in nearly similar though briefer terms of the washed fleeces – “Superior combing and quality, fair condition, a very desirable wool;” and of the unwashed “Superior quality, good combing.” So much for the judges’ opinions of Australian wool, and, through Mr. Thomas Learmonth’s kindness, I am enabled to give the actual weight obtained and the money returns. In 1862 there were 8,430 sheep shorn at Ercildoun, including 3,000 lambs, and they yielded an average of 2¼lb. of clean spout-washed wool all round. The actual sum obtained that year was not entered in the books, but it has been since, and so can be given for the next two years. In 1863 there were 12,155 sheep and 6,924 lambs shorn, yielding for the former 39,394lb., and for the latter 12,306lb. of wool, or an average of 3lb. 4oz. for each sheep, and 1lb. 12½ oz. for each lamb. It will be seen by a comparison of these numbers that several thousand ewes had been purchased for the purpose of stocking up the run, and that there were consequently a very large proportion of ewes, which had reared lambs, and a very small proportion of young ewes and wedders, to yield heavy fleeces and keep up the average. However, even so, the 51,700lb. of wool from old and young netted in London £6,537 14s. 6d., or 6s. 9½d. per head. During the next year, 1864, there were 24,077 sheep shorn for 68,563lb. Of wool, and 6,806 lambs for 9,299lb., the former giving an average of 2lb. 14oz., and the latter 1lb. 6oz. per head. This low average was caused partly, as before, by the number of breeding ewes, and very much by the prevalence that year of ticks. Which are nearly as bad as scab for worrying the sheep and reducing the weight of wool, notwithstanding the falling off in weight, the money return was nearly as great as in the previous year, the 77,862lb. of wool producing £8,711 16s. 10d. or 6s. 8d. per head, only three halfpence a sheep less. In 1865, the yield from 26,916 sheep was 83,933lb. of wool, an average of 3lb. 2oz., and from 7,660 lambs 9,895lb., or an average of 1lb. 5oz. per head. Thus the general average on the year had increased nearly 3oz., although the season was so unfavourable for all, and the lambs yielded 1oz. less. The returns for last year not being complete, the exact money yield cannot be given. Had not Mr. Learmonth been satisfied to trust to the well-established character of his pure flock these figures would have been withheld from the public, as on this is thrown the onus of keeping up the average both of price and weight for a very large proportion of breeding ewes, purchased from different quarters, and of course very inferior. The process of stocking-up prevents, too, the drafting of many light-fleeced and otherwise objectionable sheep, but now the young stock by the Ercildoun rams are coming forward, and the returns of the next two or three years will tell a different tale.

Before leaving this branch of the subject for the present, I may remind my readers of the expressed opinion of the judges at the Intercolonial Show on the wool of Mr. Kermode’s sheep. After awarding it the prize for washed wool of the highest value per lb., they conclude their report by saying that they had considerable difficulty in valuing this lot, as a wool with all its properties had never been shown in Melbourne before, and for some particular trades it might realise a very high price. Such being the importance of this flock in the eyes of experts all admirers of pure Australian wool will be much interested in the well-being and progress of the branch now located here.

The Ercildoun Sheepwash. The Messrs. Learmonth were amongst the first to try spouts in this colony, but they have had reason to change their plans even up to the present year. At first cold water was used, and the sheep were made to stand under the spouts. Now the object with them, and with all other flock owners in this part of the country who get up their wool well, is to soak the sheep in tepid water first, then to complete the process of washing as quickly and with as little inconvenience to the animal as possible, for so the wool comes out brightest. With this view the soaking pen is but a short distance from the spouts, and is connected with them by a narrow race, so narrow that the sheep have to swim through it in single file, with the nose of one resting on the back of another. At the end of the race they walk up an incline to a small platform, from which there is a shoot to each of the three spouts, but they are not allowed out of the warm water until a very short time before they are plunged into the cold, and submitted to the action of the spouts. When spouted sufficiently, they are allowed to leave the water at once, not being obliged to take a long swim, as used to be deemed requisite, here as elsewhere. When thus treated the sheep leave the water with a fine rosy skin, are never seen to shiver with the cold, and the drowning of one is a rare occurrence, so little are they from under the eyes or hands of the men. As at Dunmore, there is a small hydraulic ram to raise water for sprinkling the sheep a little while before they are thrown into the soaking-pen, and cold water is used for this purpose. The washing place consists, then, of the soaking-pen with the narrow race from it, both deep enough to prevent the sheep from touching the bottom or being hurt against it when thrown in, the intermediate platform with standing-room for eight or ten sheep, and the pens full of cold water in which the sheep float while under the spouts. Of these there are three, one so far below the level of the two others as to allow of the water from them flowing through it, and so being used twice over. Here there are about 750 gallons being discharged in a minute when the spouts are full; but this placing of one spout at a lower level than the other permits the use of two when there is only water enough for one, if allowed for flow away at once, and this is a matter of great consequence when the supply is limited. The spouts used as yet are open, but the next improvement will probably be to convert these into boxes, as the narrow race has this year been adopted from the Dunmore washing-place.

The water here is all that could be desired in regard to softness still both soap and soda are used. The soaking pen holds, when up to what may be called working level, about 1,200 gallons, and to this quantity of water are added 9lb. of soap and 8lb. of soda, these proving to be the best proportions. The water is heated to 110°F before the sheep are thrown in, and is changed six times during the day, it being found here, as at so many other places, that if the soaking pen is allowed to become very dirty, much time is lost in making the wool even passably white under the spouts. The time occupied in changing the water is about eleven minutes, and this is not lost, for the first sheep through are washed very quickly, as they are also the whitest. None of the sheep are kept in the water more than five or six minutes, and a thousand are put through in about ten hours, by eleven or twelve men. The wool comes out beautifully bright after this quick process of washing, and by it there is yolk enough left to prevent the slightest degree of harshness, even if shorn off immediately. To prove that such is the case a handful of the wet wool was cut from one of the sheep when leaving the spout, and after being dried in the sun, a hard squeeze brought the yolk to the surface of the fibre. By this mode of washing, and by this alone, the dirt appears to be all removed from the surface of each fibre, while this is not contracted so as to drive out the yolk from the central tube. It is this contraction, which gives the feeling of harshness, so palpable after a great chill, or any other even temporary disturbance to the general health of the sheep. Three days are allowed between washing and shearing; but, alas, in this short space of time much mischief is done, and the snowy whiteness of the fleeces is sadly marred by the red dust of the volcanic soil, and more still by smut in the grass, which prevails to a serious extent just now, and is scarcely to be guarded against. This appears to be confined to one kind, a sort of low-growing native oat-grass, a good grass in other respects, but half the seed stems have now smut alone where the heads ought to be. The English grasses are as yet free from this disease, and it is only in such paddocks as are partly well covered with these that the sheep can be kept tolerably white about the legs and faces during the three days of grace before being submitted to the tender mercies of the shearers. This smut would seem to be one of the aparently trivial, yet serious difficulties with which those sheep owners desirous of getting up their wool in first-rate condition will have to contend every season, remarkable for a flush of grass just at this time, and there is no way of guarding against it but by having paddocks laid down with English grass to contain the sheep between washing and shearing time. When the present system of washing, comparatively novel as yet, comes to be better understood, probably even three days will not be allowed to elapse before shearing.

As before stated, it would be a waste of time to attempt to convey an exact idea of the plan of each and every washing place that is good, but there is much here from which useful ideas may be picked up. In the first place, the command of a fine stream of water for several months of the year was obtained by the construction of a series of dams of a very simple character, communicating one with another. The lower reservoirs are kept always full, by allowing the water to flow from those at a higher level as it is required, and in ordinary seasons, when there is much water saved in the natural lagoon, the highest of all, several of the paddocks can be irrigated two or three times during the summer. This fall of water so regulated and economized affords an ample supply for the spouts, and for driving the hydraulic ram or any other engine that may be required to save labour. Certainly the hills and land around are favourable for the purpose, but the catchwater area is not large, and quite as much might be done in this way at many stations and holdings where there is scarcely enough for the wholesome supply of a duck-pond through the summer. Passing from the mode of obtaining a supply, the next care here is that none shall pass away until it is either too dirty or has served its proper use. And as the boilers for heating water for the soaking pen are fitted up, there can be no burning of them through neglect, and at a time when such an accident would cause a serious interruption to the shearing. This is prevented, by drawing off the hot water from the tap, as it is raised by the inflow of cold through a pipe let down nearly to the bottom. By this method of filling the boilers they are always full with hot water rising from its having less specific gravity; but the inflow must be supplied from a source a trifle higher than the highest part of the discharge pipe, or mechanical means will be required to draw off the water. This may be treated by some as an insignificant matter of detail, but everything is of consequence that can in any way prevent stoppage or delay during the time of shearing.

Gladly would I linger on the many beauties and improvements of this place, the extensive views over hill and dale, mountain and plain, from the peak, the fine gardens and cultivated lands around the house, the new and comfortable men’s hut, wherein each man has a separate sleeping room if he chooses, and the pannikins shine like silver mugs under the diligent attention of the cook, but shearing is so nearly over, that sheep and wool, wool and sheep, must be my only theme for a time, and a speedy departure must be made from the hospitable halls of Ercildoun.

Queenscliff. The arrivals of the undermentioned parties are notified to us as having arrived at this fashionable water place: At Leihy’s Royal Hotel – Messrs. Learmonth and family, Ercildoun.

The Show of Wool. Yesterday, an intercolonial show of Merino wool, in connexion with the universal exhibition to be held in London in August next, was opened at the establishment of Messrs. Cuningham (who was responsible for first frozen meat export) and Macredie. The invitation to the sister colonies to join in the competition was not liberally responded to, the only contributors, besides Victorian producers, being Mr. Joseph Carter, South Australia, and Mr. N.P. Bayly, Mudgee, New South Wales. The show was about equal in extent to its predecessor in 1865, but the condition in which many of the specimens were presented showed a gratifying improvement, and demonstrated the value of the recently adopted system of spout-washing with warm water.

The fleeces shown by Mr. Learmonth elicited the highest commendation, and we are assured by competent witnesses that for length of staple, quality, and the condition to which they had been brought by washing, they have never been equalled in this colony.

The Intercolonial Wool Show. “And now that the third show of wool is over, what is to be learned from it? But little more, truly, than what everyone knew before, namely, that Mr. Learmonth has the best sheep in this colony. As to whether there are any sheep in the other colonies better, we are no wiser than before, but we may safely surmise that there are not, taking both size and quality combined. There are doubtless very excellent sheep both in Tasmania and New South Wales, but they have not the size of our Victorian sheep, nor do they produce an equal weight of combing wool.”

It goes on to say that: “But in truth, the interest in these intercolonial shows of Merino wool is evidently on the wane, and before the time for another comes round, it will be well to consider, if, instead of a little-appreciated invitation to the other colonies to send us Merino wool, the farmers here should not be asked to join in the movement, with the coarser combing wools which they are beginning to find so remunerative; and if thus a renewed interest could not be given to a colonial show on a much wider basis. Merino wool pays exceedingly well, but there is a large circle of would-be exhibitors who consider that other sorts of wool pays better under suitable circumstances, and they would like to have their part in such a show. As at present arranged, these exhibitions partake too much of a spirit of exclusiveness ever to become as popular as they ought to be.”

The Merino in Victoria. To the Editor of the Australian.
Sir, – I have read with much pleasure the excellent series of articles on the merino in Victoria which has appeared in your columns. The thanks of the breeders of the colony are due to your correspondent for the attention, which he has bestowed on the important subjects, which he has so ably treated. Although I do not agree with him on all points, and although he has fallen into a few inaccuracies as to matters of fact, still his views in my opinion are on the whole sound, and his writings calculated to do good. I regret that I was away from home when your correspondent was here, as I could have prevented some misapprehensions into which he has fallen, both as to the Camden flock and the sheepwash. With reference to the former, he is in error in stating that Mr. Wilson’s ewes were purchased after I bought from Mr. Greene. He got his the year before. I purchased the whole of the old pure blood, male and female, but left fifty – not 150 – with Mr. Greene. I have now resold the flock to Mr. Greene, but shall retain a few individuals, for the purpose of practically illustrating the correctness of my principles of breeding, and of proving that his country and climate are still better adapted for growing the combing wool than Mount Hope – a fact which is considered already proved, indeed, by those who have had the best opportunities of judging of the wool as it was at Mount Hope and is here. The flock being no longer mine, I may, without indelicacy, and without the fear of being suspected of interested motives, correct the following statement which your correspondent makes with reference to its present state: – “The question of in-breeding should not be dismissed so summarily, and without looking more particularly into what has been done by it. The Australian merino has been produced by this system, and it is only to be improved by selection, that is to say, amongst first-class sheep of the kind. The Camden flock was long so bred, and only after years of mismanagement and neglect began to show signs of fall off, not the effect of the system, but only the abuse of it.” He then proceeds to say that the Ercildoun flock offers a better instance of what may be done by in-breeding with due care. With the principles enunciated in this passage I most cordially agree; and that the Ercildoun flock furnishes a most convincing proof of the correctness of those principles I have always maintained. That fact, indeed, has never been disputed. And I am glad to say that Mr. Learmonth has become so satisfied that the practice of the system of in-breeding to good blood, even in the very closes affinities, is the surest, and indeed the only true method of maintaining and increasing excellence, that he has selected and placed in a separate paddock twenty of the best ewes of his own blood for the use of his splendid old ram, George I, the progeny which he intends again to put to their father. And here I would remark, with reference to your correspondent’s statement, that it was from Mr. Learmonth and Mr. Shaw that Mr. Currie derived his present opinions on in-breeding, that although Mr. Learmonth now believes in the system, he did not always do so, nor was it through him that Mr. Currie became a convert. It is no more than justice to Mr. McDougall, and in a minor degree to the present writer, to state, that I have been personally assured by both these gentlemen, as well as by several of the most extensive sheep-breeders in the colony, that until they read the correspondence in the Economist on the breeding question, they held no fixed principles at all on the subject. Mr. Learmonth, the Messrs. Cummings, and Mr. Shaw had, indeed, been forced into an adherence to their own blood by the manifestly evil results of the introduction of foreign blood. But the old prejudice respecting the necessity for a periodical infusion of fresh blood was still strong enough to lead them to believe that, although plainly right in practice, as regarded their own sheep, still they were wrong as regarded the general principle. The impression made on their minds, however, by the facts brought forward in the Economist was deepened into conviction by the masterly works of Dr. Randall, which, fortunately for the colony, were introduced at that critical period by Dr. Kenworthy, formerly of Ballarat. Extracts from Randall’s works also appeared in Clough’s Circular. The effect of these combined influences has been a very marked and decided change of opinion amongst most of the great breeders in the Western District, and indeed throughout the colony respecting the principles of breeding. And although there are still many who adhere to the antiquated prejudices which formerly prevailed universally as to the necessity, in the case of ram-breeders, of the periodical introduction of fresh blood into an already excellent stud-flock, and in the case of ram-buyers as to the necessity of changing the source from whence they obtain their supplies, yet the effects which have already been produced on the value of our staple export must be very considerable, whilst the ultimate results caused by the more extended acceptation of the principle which year by year the success of the system must induce are scarcely calculable. With reference to his allegation that the Camden flock has deteriorated, I would remark that your correspondent’s opinion cannot have been formed from personal observation, as he did not examine a single sheep while here, nor (so far as I am aware) did he ever see the flock at Mount Hope. Most probably his conclusions have been drawn from the disparaging tone in which these sheep have lately been alluded to by a certain well-known western breeder and writer, at whose station he appears to have been during his present tour. That writer asserted that he had had hundreds of the pure Camden rams through his hands, and that there was fifty per cent difference in the value of their fleeces. It struck me at the time of reading this assertion that it was strange that he should have had so many of the pure sheep, as I knew that the number of these had all along been very small. I have since, however, been informed by Mr. Campbell of a fact of which I was not previously aware, viz., that by far the greater proportion of the rams sold to the western breeders were only half-bred Camdens. Mr. Campbell says that Mr. Learmonth got some of the pure rams. But the majority were ‘got’ by pure Camden rams out of good picked ewes purchased in Victoria, not pure Camden ewes. Here, then, we have a complete explanation of the phenomenon, which that writer brought forward as a proof, that homogeneousness of blood does not necessarily prevent wide dissimilarity of character. While on the subject I would draw the attention of those interested in an extract from the M. R. New Yorker, which appeared in the Economist of the 21st December last, in which the point of dissimilarity of character in pure-bred animals is most ably treated. I do not intend to assert that the Camden flock at present exhibits that uniform excellence which a long-continued and strict attention to the selection and coupling of individuals would have secured. On this point I still venture to differ from Mr. McDougall. But if the assertion, which I am about to make be correct, it cannot be true that deterioration to any appreciable extent has taken place. Nor do I intend to make that assertion merely on the strength of my own opinion. It will be made on the basis of the opinion of every good judge of sheep (with the exception of one only) who has ever examined the stud-flock here – more particularly on that of four gentlemen who have acted as judges at all the principal shows in the colony. The assertion is – that there are individuals in the Camden flock, both young and old, male and female, which combine in themselves every desirable quality, to an extent exhibited by no other sheep, either imported or Australian, and that these individuals have none of the faults which are alleged to be inseparable from Australian characteristics. If this assertion be correct, it is evident that the elements of uniformity and of a close approximation to perfection exist within the blood; and those who understand the arcana of breeding will admit that by the introduction of no blood less homogeneous could uniformity and the permanence of the characteristics possessed by all, in combination with the development of those not possessed to a sufficient extent by some, be equally certainly and well attained. A very large number of witnesses might be brought forward to prove that this assertion is in accordance with fact. But the testimony of the four gentlemen particularly alluded to, is of peculiar value. Two of them are themselves breeders of the very highest standing. Another, though not himself a breeder, from having so frequently acted as a judge, both at Skipton and in Melbourne, is thoroughly acquainted with every flock of note in the colony. His evidence is rendered of especial value from the fact that all his prejudices were in favour of imported sheep, and that up to the time of his inspecting the stud flock here, he avowed his belief that there were no sheep of Australian blood free from the very serious defects of ropiness and openness on the top of the wither and along the back, deficiency on the point of the rib, and a too large proportion of belly wool, together with a bad character of belly wool. Until he saw the stud flock here, he said he had seen no Australian sheep entirely free from one or more of these faults. He had seen as great density and finer quality in short clothing wools on Saxon sheep, and perhaps as long – never longer – staple on French and Australian sheep. But he had never, on any sheep, either imported or Australian, seen such a combination of quality, density, length of staple, softness, and silky lustre. Now, your correspondence, on the hypothesis of the deterioration of the Cabana, suggests the propriety of making the experiment of putting some of the ewes to French rams. He fully admits the danger of losing some of the Camden characteristics, and also the want of certainty of result, occasioned not only by the mixing – not crossing, as he most properly observes – of two streams of blood which had flowed so long apart, under different conditions, but also by the large number of differing individuals from which the Rambouillet flock originally sprang, the effects of which, in spite of many years of in-breeding, are, as he truly remarks, still apparent. But he thinks that the power and persistence of the Camden blood, caused by its homogeneousness, would enable it in every case to assert its own character, whilst only those individuals of the progeny which exhibited in addition the qualities desiderated should be selected for establishing the improved type. On the supposition of the correctness of the hypothesis alluded to, I should completely concur with your correspondent as to the propriety of making some such experiment (I would, however, very much prefer an American to a French ram for the purpose), for I hold that if no individual within the blood possess the desired qualities, these must be introduced from without. But as I have shown that individuals of both sexes do exist in the Cabana possessing all the desired qualities, and free from the faults alleged to be inseparable from the Australian blood, I am sure, from the enunciation of the principles he holds to be correct, which he has so repeatedly given, that your correspondent will agree with me in believing that the end in view can be attained with much more certainty, and much less danger, by continuing to breed with selection within the pale, than by making any selection beyond the pale of the blood. I have not felt at liberty publicly to mention the names of the gentlemen on whose judgments I have grounded the above assertion, but I am quite prepared to communicate that information privately………….

Intercolonial Wool Exhibition. The third intercolonial exhibition of merino wool took place 16th inst., at the Australasian wool stores, the last having been held there in January 1865. The same care has been exercised as formerly, to prevent the slightest bias on the part of the judges, the names of the exhibitors being only known to the honorary secretary, Mr. Macredie, and not divulged by him until after the awards had been given. The judges devoted the whole of Tuesday to the examination of the wool, and have drawn up a very careful report, a copy of which we append the following tables, arranged according to merit, exhibit the names of the various exhibitors, and other particulars:
Class I – Washed
9) Thos. Learmonth Value of Bale, taking Growth as 365 Days £34 11s 2d.
3) Philip Russell £29 0s 11d – A very good combing wool, good both in quality and condition; a most desirable wool to grow.
1) J.L. Currie £28 12s 10d – A very superior lot of combing wool, fine condition and superior quality; the skirts are good.
4) J.L. Currie £28 9s 4d – A very good combing wool, fair quality, and in good condition.
Class II – Greasy
12) John Bell £28 6s 3d – A superior low wool in very good condition.
13) Thomas Learmonth £27 3s 6d – A very superior combing wool, of good quality and condition.
Class III – Skirted
1) Thos. Learmonth – The quality, condition and color of this wool is splendid.
4) J.L. Currie – A most beautiful bred wool, but not so silky or long grown as lots 1 and 3.

Besides the published exhibits, there was a fine sample of lambs’ wool, washed on the backs of lambs bred by T. Shaw, Esq., on the Wooriwyrite station. The wool shown by T. Learmonth, Esq., and forming exhibit No. 1 of class 3, commanded much attention from its length of staple, quality and condition, and was shorn at the Ercildoun station. The stations on which the various samples of wool were shorn are as follows: – Learmonth’s, Ercildoun; P. Russell’s, Carngham; Currie’s Lara, near Cressy; Bell’s, Warrambeen, near Shelford; Carter and Sons’, Rosebrook, near Cavendish; T. Russell’s, Rookwood; J. Blair’s, Clunie, Glenelg River; G. Thomson’s, near Buangor; Campbell’s near Buangor; J. Carter’s, South Australia near Cressy; J. Mackersey’s, Kennilworth, near Hamilton; C. Gray’s, Mareeb, near Hamilton; Greene and Burt’s, Glenmore, Bacchus Marsh; N. P. Bayly’s, Mudgee, New South Wales; D. Affleck’s, Mount Emu, near Skipton; and T. Shaw’s, Wooriwyrite, near Darlington.

The Victorian Wool Show. Excerpt – The gentlemen whose names are appended exhibited in the three classes for which prizes were given: – Mr. T. Learmonth, Ercildoun; Mr. P. Russell, Carngham; Mr. J. L. Currie, Larra, Cressy; Mr. J. Bell, Warrambine, Shelford; Messrs. Carter & Sons, Rosebrook, Upper Glenelg; Mr. T. Russell, Rokewood; Mr. J. Blair, Clunie, Glenelg; Mr. G. Thompson, Buangor, Ararat; Mr. C. Campbell, do; Mr. Joseph Carter, South Australia; Messrs. Thomas Russell and Co., the Plains, Inverleigh; Mr. A. S. Robertson, Cressy; Mr. J. Mackersey, Kendworth, Hamilton; Mr. C. Gray, Nareeb Nareeb; Messrs. Greene and Burt, Mudgee, New South Wales; Mr. D. Affleck, Mount Emu, Skipton; and Mr. Thomas Shaw, Wooriwyrite.

A Fire broke out on the run of Messrs Learmonth, at Ercildoun, on Monday, and before it was extinguished grass to the extent of one thousand acres was consumed, and that on the best portion of their land. It appears that Duncan McDonald, of the Springs, set fire to his stubble field, which soon spread to Messrs Learmonth’s run; and had there not been plenty of assistance at hand the damage done must have been far greater. Great complaints have been made (writes our Learmonth correspondent) of the careless manner in which farmers set fire to their stubble before clearing a sufficient space and giving the notice required by law, thereby endangering their neighbors’ property.

Lexton Police Court. Police v McDonald – Setting fire to stubble at the Springs on the 11th ins., without first clearing a space of fifteen feet around it and without giving twenty four hours notice in writing to the occupiers of contiguous lands, whereby the property of Mr Thomas Learmonth, M.L.C., was destroyed to the value of £1000. The defendant pleaded guilty. Senior Constable Buckmaster, in stating the case remarked that the provisions of the Act, though clear and simple, were seldom, if ever, observed by the farmers, and as a consequence of their neglect, much injury was frequently done to their neighbors, and notwithstanding the heavy fine of £100, the neglect was of frequent occurrence. Mr. Learmonth, examined: – I am a squatter residing at Ercildoun, and have land adjacent to the defendant’s farm. About 1,500 acres of grass were destroyed by fire on the 11th ins. I estimate the damage at £1000, as a good deal of it was sown with English grass. I never received notice in writing from the defendant of his intention to set the stubble on fire. (Mr Learmonth here appealed to the Bench to deal leniently with the case as he felt assured that the defendant never intended to injure him.) Fined £5 and 17s.

Mr. Learmonth and Mr. Rolfe.
A letter from Thomas Learmonth To the Editor of The Age.
SIR – “In the leading article of The Age of the 9th instant. I am brought prominently before the public as having acted improperly in presenting the scrutiny into the validity of the late election for the South-Western Province, in which Mr. Rolfe and myself were the rival candidates, and which is now being investigated before the committee of elections and qualifications of the Legislative Council.” It goes on to state “I would either be fairly elected by my fellow citizens, or I should not sit in the Upper House at all; and at a meeting of my friends, held in Ballarat the next day, I read to them the communication I had received containing the above proposition. I hope that this scrutiny, however it may affect myself, may at least have this result, that it will tend to check the present nefarious practice of “roll-stuffing,” and place the registration for both Houses of Parliament on a better footing. As for my opponent in this contest, I have no ground of quarrel against him. I am aware that this scrutiny must give him annoyance, and am sorry for it. I believe Mr. Rolfe to be an honourable man. I know that he had no hand in placing on the rolls scores of fictitious names, and I feel sure that he would be as glad as I should be that all elections were honestly conducted. Nay, more than this, I have no wish to prevent Mr. Rolfe from having a seat in Parliament. He is a man of greater political experience than myself, and when he supports measures that I consider to be for the benefit of the country, I shall vote by his side.” I am, sir, yours obediently,
Thomas Learmonth. Ercildoun, 11th March.

Births. On the 18th March, at Ercildoun, near Ballarat, Mrs. Thomas Learmonth, of a son.

The engine of the Woollen Cloth Company, Geelong, was “christened” on Tuesday. Captain Velum started it, and the chairman of the board of directors, J.L. Currie, Esq., performed the interesting ceremony of breaking a bottle of champagne over the engine and naming it “Larra.” In doing so, he expressed himself highly honored at having the privilege of christening the first woollen factory engine in Victoria, and trusted that it would prove a blessing to the rising generation.

Mudgee Wool v. Victorian. To the Editor of the Australasian.
Sir, – I read but mislaid Mr. Bayly’s reply to my letter. I have secured another copy, and find that his challenges were to all the five winners at the late show, or to any two of them. Had this been impressed on my mind (it is plainly written, I now see) I could have said in my last what I now say, that Mr. Thomas Learmonth, of Ercildoun, and the writer of this will compare prices with Mr. Bayly by sending account- sales to you when all for the season have arrived. I cannot understand Mr. Bayly’s fear that we intended to examine the London account-sales, and only forward those higher than his. Such an idea never entered my head; but if it had, is Mr. Bayly not prepared to compete with any Victorian bidder? If he is not, as an older breeder he ought to be, and, what is more, he should go ahead of any of them, as, from samples he has seen, our “wool was very coarse indeed.” I regret to notice Mr. Bayly has a fling at the Melbourne judges – a too common practice among unsuccessful competitors. My prize was but a third, yet I say those gentlemen most ably and most kindly fulfilled their duties. Their previous judgments have been substantially proved correct in the London market, and I believe better judges cannot be found in any of the Australian colonies. I have read and noted what Mr. Bayly advances as regards weight of fleece off stud ewes. He is confident that his fleeces would have weighed 10lb. each if the sheep had been running in paddocks. I am confident they would not. Keeping away anything fed up by extra artificial pastures, and with a true twelve-months’ fleece, I am just as confident he has not, and never had, sixty ewes which will yield him 600lb. of wool light in grease. I will not say that he has not stud ewes, which with sand and heavy grease will not give any weight he wishes to mention. His assertions, confident as they are, and mine are at variance. Who is right? This difference of opinion shows how desirable it is that fair and upright exhibitions should be held; as if Mr. Bayly can prove his assertions, Victorian breeders will rush to Mudgee for stud ewes; if he is wrong, perhaps they had better stop at home. Mr. Bayly has seen samples of our prize bales, and found them “very coarse indeed.” I have seen samples of his wool at your office, and thought them very fine indeed; such wool with a 10lb. fleece would be my beau ideal of a stud ewe, which I think I have seen in the flocks of Ercildoun. Thomas Shaw, Jun.

Victorian Wools. (From the Australasian.) It seems that our Victorian wools do not find favor in the eyes of the Mudgee people, any more than the entry of wool from there did in the eyes of the judges at the last Intercolonial Show here. Excerpt – …but because New South Wales has been so long famous for her clothing wools that the breeders there, especially those who have been so engaged for the last twenty, or even ten years, cannot quickly unlearn what they have been so long taught to believe in as the peculiar merits of the merino wool. Now, the breeders in Victoria most commenced without these traditional rules to restrain them, free to learn from what they had before their eyes, and although the effort was made and long persevered in to grow fine clothing wool, the climate or the soil, or both together, proved too much for those breeders who made the old standard merino their object, and produced an animal with at least a different fleece in spite of them. The wool would grow straighter and longer, and in truth also less dense in the pile; so that the cry arose for foreign blood, and extravagant prices were given for German rams. On these the fleeces were as dense as could be wished; but, contrary to expectation, the wool of their progeny realized less per pound that that of the sheep they were brought to improve, even so much less that the heavier fleeces did not fetch as much money as the old unimproved lighter ones. Such a disappointment showed only too clearly that some of the most valuable properties of the old wool were lost by the German cross, and on inquiry these were found to be the brightness of hair and clearness of staple, as well as the general softness and silkiness of the fleece, of what has been lately distinguished by the name of the Australian merino. These are the peculiar qualities now required in combing wool for the finest and most costly fabrics, and for these the manufacturers will consequently give the highest prices. Thus, the merino must be changed in character to keep with the times, and is not now to be judged by the old rules.

Australian Wheat in America. Even a newspaper in Queensland mentions the varieties of wheat Thomas Learmonth sent over to the New York State Ag. Society totaling 8 bushels – White Velvet Wheat 64 lbs. per bushel, White Tuscan Wheat 65 lbs. per bushel, White Lammas Wheat 66 lbs. per bushel, Golden Drop Wheat 63 lbs. per bushel. The wheat was to be distributed to farmers, about a peck to each applicant, who were to take charge of it and make returns to the secretary.

The Paris Exhibition. (From our special correspondent.)
Dr. Mueller sent a case of various kinds of paper made from eucalyptus, which appeared quite as good as the ordinary paper made from rags. The author of this article states that the colony is greatly indebted to Dr. Mueller and M. Ramel for the great pains that they have devoted to the cultivation of this tree – the latter gentleman especially has quite succeeded in acclimatizing it in Algeria, where it grows luxuriantly, and in his garden in Paris. He has several young plants doing well and the cigars are capital and have really valuable medicinal qualities in addition to their excellent smoke.

News and Notes. …reports on the proposed visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to Ballarat, and the possibility of an added visit to Ercildoun, where the most famous flocks, and one of the finest sheep-runs in Australia may be seen, and where no doubt Mr. Learmonth would give his Grace a worthy reception, and that would convey to the Duke and his suite an excellent epitome of the wealth, industry, and resources of the colony.

Bushranging on the Border. In this article, the Narrandera correspondent of the Pastoral Times gives and account of the doings of the bushrangers in that locality. A Mr. Waller was on the way to the Narrandera Police Station to give information of his station having been stuck up by “Blue Cap” and “Jack the Devil.” He said that their object was not to obtain money but firearms, and one of them told him that it was a miserable life, but as he had commenced, he was compelled to continue the avocation. They politely refused the grog on the table. They had heard of a splendid revolver of Mr. Waller’s, which they took possession of and seemed pleased with. They also took a silver watch but nothing more, “observing that it would be hoped there were no females about that would be alarmed.” Two racehorses, Waratah and Geebung, seemingly known to the bushrangers were stolen from Berellan Station along with two saddles, a round of beef and sundry articles of clothing. They also held up Bringagee Station owned by the Learmonth Brothers (Ercildoun had been held up in 1854 and 1872) about thirty miles from Narrandera down the river from which place they decided to secure a rifle capable of firing sixteen charges without reloading. Upon arrival there and searching for this formidable piece without success, they then by some means ascertained that the rifle was at the hut of a shepherd on some out-station to which they proceeded and secured the rifle, expressing their disgust at being previously put upon the wrong scent. They searched and found in the bush one of the overseers, whom they stripped and compelled to walk before them home to the head-station, upon where they broke open boxes and smashed different things in search for money, &c. The last paragraph states – “No wonder you are viewing the districts of Victoria with a jealous eye, for what comparison is there between that colony and New South Wales? Only cross the Murray at Moama, and how discernible is the difference when you set foot upon a well-regulated territory!”

Victoria in the Paris Exhibition. Silver Medal awarded to John Bell, Melbourne, for wool. Bronze Medals for wool &c. were awarded to – J.L. Currie, Larra, T. Learmonth, Ercildoun, Philip Russell, Carngham, F. Ormond, Jun., Borrigallar, Skipton, A.S. Robertson, per Cuningham and Macredie, and to Cuningham and Macredie, Melbourne, for greasy wool, ewe fleece bred by George Thomson, Bangor.

Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society’s Show. Thomas Learmonth won 4 first prizes for the best three merino rams of any age, the best three merino ewes, the best three merino rams (two-tooth) and for the best three merino ewes (two-tooth).

Ballarat Ag. & Pastoral Society’s 9Th Annual Show. Thomas Learmonth won 4 first prizes for cattle at The Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society’s Ninth Annual Show for best Hereford bull, aged (imported or colonial), bred at Ercildoun, best Hereford cow, aged (imported or colonial), bred at Ercildoun, best two year old heifer and for the best cow shown in the yards of any age.

The National Show. Mr. Learmonth, M.L.C., presents the following address to his Royal Highness Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, Knight of the most noble, Order of the Garter, &c, &c, &c. – May it please your Royal Highness, We, the members of the Board of Agriculture representing the various agricultural societies in Victoria, desire to take this opportunity of adding one more to the many addresses of welcome which have already greeted your Royal Highness. In the old country the agricultural community has even been conspicuous for loyalty and devotion to the Sovereign. We assure your Royal Highness that similar feelings towards her Majesty the Queen exist amongst the agriculturists in this colony, and that they entertain a lively interest in the happiness and welfare of the Royal family, and the maintenance of the integrity of the British Empire. We thank your Royal Highness for honoring this exhibition with your presence. We are sensible that it can by no means compare with exhibitions of like character in the fatherland, but we venture to hope that it may be pleasing to your Royal Highness to trace here, and in your visit to the interior, the progress in agriculture which has been made in a country where, thirty-two years ago, the white man was a stranger and the ground was unbroken by the plough.”

Thomas Learmonth ended up taking by far the greater number of prizes, as well as the Champion prizes, for his rams and ewes, at this show.

The Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 12 December 1867
The Australian Merino. We are informed that Mr. Learmonth, of Ercildoun, has sold for Queensland one ram for £100 and three do. for £50 each. Mr. Thos. Shaw, Jnr. has also sold thirty ewes at £5 each. Our Queensland neighbours are evidently beginning to see the necessity of securing some of our good sheep. Melbourne Economist.

The Perth Gazette & Western Australia Times, 13 December 1867
Wool-washing. (From the Australasian.) However, leaving the question of condition, to which prices testify in the most convincing manner, we must return to the means by which this is best to be obtained. Our readers had to thank Mr. Macknight last week for the very valuable information obtained by him as the result of several years’ study and experience at Dunmore, and this week we give a plan suitable for those who are not so advantageously situated in regard to water. This is almost similar to that adopted by the Messrs. Cumming at Mount Fyans, as expressly adapted to carry out the new process to perfection when the water is hard. When this is the case the slightest chill must be avoided, or the dirt sets, and the stain cannot be afterwards removed with any amount of spouting. Therefore, the warm water pen is as close to the spouts as it can be, and there is no intermediate battery as at Dunmore. Mr. Currie has tried the battery for finishing with instead of spouts, but it does not answer, unless with the expenditure of about three times as much water as would suffice for the latter. Nor is it in any way more effectual; therefore the simplest plan is the best; and nothing can be more compact or more easily understood than the plan we give. The object in this is to allow of the sheep being soaked thoroughly in the pen, passing from one compartment to the other as they are fit, and then on to the small stage, from which they are let down the slides to the men at the spouts. There is no preliminary sprinkling in the yards, as that is thought on the plains, where the water is generally hard, to do more harm than good, rendering it difficult to keep the water in the soaking-pen up to the requisite degree of heat. Any sheep with very black tips can be rubbed with soap while in the pen. This is found to be sufficient to remove those of most Australian merinos, which are not usually very black or gummy; but a preliminary sprinkling of soapy water would be desirable for black-tipped Germans and American merinos, even though causing a little extra consumption of fuel. Sheep owners obliged to use hard water find that the more rapidly they can have the process of washing completed the whiter their wool is. When the dirt has been well softened in the warm water, and not allowed to cool again, it is knocked off very quickly by the water from the spouts; and the sheep leaves the water with its skin of a bright rosy red, showing that it has suffered nothing from the hot and cold bath. The same principle is adopted by Mr. Learmonth at Ercildoun, but the water there being soft, the preliminary shower is in vogue. Thus, of the clips fetching the highest prices during the last few years, some have been washed with hard water and some with soft, but none without hot water and a due proportion of soap and soda. If asked for perfection in the plan of a wash, we would say that this will be found in the plan we give, of course with modifications in detail, only substituting Mr. McKnight’s box spouts for those that are open, when the fall of water will admit of such a change. A small quantity of water would have more effect from the former, and when economy of this element is necessary, there would be a decided advantage; but the intervening battery according to the Dunmore plan would be injurious when the water is in the least degree hard. And as to the water in which the sheep float when under the spouts becoming cloudy and dirty, this can be prevented by causing it to flow off freely from one outlet, which unless there is some special reason to the contrary should be placed behind the slides or under the stage; but the intervening battery, according to the Dunmore plan, would be injurious when the water is in the least degree hard. And as to the water in which sheep float when under the spouts becoming cloudy and dirty, this can be prevented by causing it to flow off freely from one outlet, which unless there is some special reason to the contrary, should be placed behind the slides or under the stage. Some such compact plan will be found best whether the water is hard or soft, and it may be constructed almost entirely of wood, if desirable. The soaking-pen may stand on the ground or be only slightly let down in to it, allowing the men to handle and rub the sheep at a convenient distance below them. And as the warm water has to be changed very frequently to get rid of the dirt in an ordinary pen, this might be made with a false bottom closing down on the grating, so that the water below this, containing the bulk of the dirt, could be allowed to flow out every now and then, without much of the cleaner water above escaping. Then the cold-water-pen under the spouts need not be large, and, if the wood or solid masonry could be made with recesses for the men to stand in and hold the sheep, thus avoiding the necessity for inconvenient tubs. Even to keep three spouts going, the soaking-pen need not be made to hold more than from twelve to fifteen sheep, unless these are very dirty, and require to be kept an unusually long time in hot water. No more than five minutes should elapse from the time a tolerably clean sheep goes down the slide into the soaking-pen until it leaves the hands of the men at the spouts. The working out of this system has resulted in the utmost simplification of washing and economy of labour, so that not even a single tilt is required. And as nothing can be simpler than the plan we give, we may suppose this to be near perfection. However, it shows very plainly the principle that must be acted upon in using soap and soda; and, as Mr. Macknight very correctly remarks in his last letter on the subject, let no one meddle with hot water unless prepared to carry out the new system of sheep-washing in its integrity. Without boilers enough to keep the water in the soaking-tank up to about 110, and then cold water enough in the spouts to dash the dirt out quickly, the chances are ten to one that the wool is left stained and dingy, and in worse condition that if the sheep had been only brook-washed. But thanks to the information furnished by our different experienced correspondents, and what we have otherwise been enabled to supply from time to time, those interested in the subject ought now to be sufficiently well posted up to arrive at decisions on such points for themselves, and if in a position to adopt the system, with knowledge enough of it to adopt one or other of the plans given to their circumstances in regards to land, water and number of sheep.

At the Exhibition of Colonial Wools recently held in this country, a bale from the Ercildoun flock (Victoria), belonging to Messrs. T. & S. Learmonth, to whom the first prize was awarded, realized the extraordinary price of 4s 10½d per lb. When it is borne in mind that hardly thirty years have elapsed since the first settlement of the colony of Victoria, the fact that a wool has thus already been produced far surpassing in general excellence the growth of the best Spanish and German flocks, from which the Australian blood was originally derived, gives striking evidence alike of the skill and enterprise of our colonists, and of the great natural capability of the colony for the production of this staple.

The Visit to Learmonth. The drive to Learmonth and the witnessing of the regatta and the view of this beautiful agricultural country surrounding the lake had by most people been expected to be one of the most interesting events of the visit of his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh to this district. However, his Royal Highness and suite, the good people of Learmonth, the regatta committee, and the thousands of people who had travelled all sorts of distances to see the Prince, were doomed to disappointment. The bright but rainy morning turned to a windy, stormy, and intolerably dusty day, and so inclement at one time as to include a hailstorm or two in its programme. The town of Learmonth looked better, perhaps, than it ever did before, triumphal arches, evergreen decorations, and flags and banners without number, and the presence of at least 5000 persons, with countless herds of horses and traps of all kinds that might be numbered by hundreds made up a scene so lively and stirring that the good folks of Learmonth must have been astonished at the bustling, joyous, gay, and picturesque appearance of their, at all times, picturesque little town. An address from the Ballaratshire Council had been presented to the Prince privately, and another was presented from the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society, by Mr. Dalgleish, president, with Mr. Simon Morrison secretary. Mr. J.S. Stewart, president of the Talbotshire Council, with Mr. Wood, secretary, also presented an address. His Royal Highness then went to see the assembled children and hear them sing, and then went to start the first races, but that not being quite ready, he went into the spacious refreshment pavilion, where after some delay, all the privileged took their seats. The luncheon was provided by the Exchange hotel, Bridge street, Ballarat, and was satisfactory in every way. Mr. Thomas Learmonth, who had been expected to preside, was not present, and Mr. Archibald Fisken took the chair, but Mr. Learmonth coming in soon afterwards, he presided at the head of the table. Mr. G. G. Morton acted as toastmaster. The first toast was “The Queen” then “The Prince and Princess of Wales and the other members of the Royal Family.” Both were received with three cheers. Mr. Learmonth, in proposing the health of his Royal Highness Prince Alfred, remarked that they had all wished to give a hearty welcome, and to thank him for his kindness in coming to witness the sports and see the district. The toast was received with hearty cheering. His Royal Highness, in reply, observed that the agriculturists were by him considered among the most loyal of her Majesty’s subjects, and he expressed regret at the unfavourable weather interfering with the regatta. His Royal Highness and suite then withdrew, and shortly afterwards left for Ballarat, as it was apparent that none of the rowing matches would come off owing to the strength of the wind. During the time occupied in the presentation of the address a life member’s ticket of the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society was presented to his Royal Highness. He was informed that the Ercildoun hills, which form so prominent a feature in the view of the lake, were those on which Mr. Learmonth had bred the sheep whose wool had taken the first prize in London against exhibits from all parts of the world. As to the regatta, only two races were contested, the crews of the rowing boats having wisely determined not to run the risk attendant on launching the frail craft in such stormy water.

From the Records of Learmonth State School No. 386. In 1868 a concert was staged by the Learmonth Glee Club and raised £6.18.0 towards the purchase of furniture needed by the school. It was supplied by Mr Robertson and cost £10. The difference in money was donated by Thomas Learmonth of Ercildoun. (A Short History of the Learmonth State School, in The Thunderer Enlighting. H. A. Patterson)