144 TRANSACTIONS OF TIIE 



finer fleece. Our opinion is, that a judicious interbreeding of these vari- 

 eties will produce the best and most profitable sheep for our California 

 wool growers. 



Of the mutton producing varieties, the Southdowns, Leieesters, and 

 Cotswolds, stand at the head of the list. The first of these produces a 

 medium wool quite marketable, but generally light and dry; it is an easy 

 keeper, maintaining its condition on very light range, and certainly 

 affords a very fine supply for the table. The others are larger and heavier 

 sheep, and under favorable circumstances produce the valuable combing 

 wools, but to do so require a larger supply of green, succulent food, and 

 a pasture entirely free from burrs or seeds, either of which destroy its 

 special value. 



Parties owning land adjacent to the reclaimed tules, and convenient to 

 market, could use these varieties with great profit, as the fleece would 

 attain in such localities a favorable growth, and the portion of the flock 

 designed for the butcher would always keep in good order and command 

 high prices. Apart from the few so situated as to derive a profit from 

 these classes of sheep, the merinos of the class named above must become 

 the prevailing style ; and wool of the grade of half or three quarter blood 

 — if the original stock is even passably good — will be found the most 

 profitable to raise, .as it is sufficiently fine for the ordinary market, and 

 while carrying oil enough to give it desirable working qualities, is not 

 subject to so great Avaste as the higher grades. 



Of the localities best adapted to the growth of wools, we note a gradual 

 improvement as you go northward. For exampde : the wools from the 

 lower counties in this State, apart from the almost universal presence of 

 burrs, are greatly deficient in strength, pliability, and softness. 



From a careful observation of the product of the State, under very 

 favorable conditions for attaining correct estimates, we should place the 

 wool from various counties in the following order, going from the lower 

 to the higher : 



San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara — wools almost all dry and 

 tender, and always burry. San Bernardino, Tulare, Fresno, Monterey, 

 and San Luis Obispo — wools generally in better condition, but still harsh 

 and often tender, a large part burry; a great deal of finely improved 

 stock in the last two counties, and much of the avooI is of fine quality. 

 Merced, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Alameda, and Contra Costa 

 Counties, show a regular though gradual improvement. Mariposa, Tuol- 

 umne, and Calaveras, generally produce very pretty and clean wools. 

 Solano, Yolo, Colusa, Sacramento, Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, 

 Yuba. Butte, Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, and Tehama rank in about the 

 order stated, the wool from some of them being only second to that from 

 Oregon and Washington Territory. Marin and Napa Counties also pro- 

 duce quite good wools, but have some clover burr, which injures their 

 sale materially. Of all the wools grown on the Pacific coast, those from 

 Oregon and Washington Territory are by far the best; they are always 

 of good length, very strong, bright, soft., and entirely free from dust or 

 burrs. These facts indicate that the northern portion of our coast is 

 i, adapted to wool growing ; their climate is somewhat cooler, the lands 

 arc well watered, the grasses are green and growing through the greater 

 portion of the year, and they are not so fully stocked nor so liable to 

 periodical failures of feed as the southern portions of this State. 



We have indicated what, in our opinion, will be found the most profit- 

 able style of sheep to raise for a term of years, viz : those yielding a 

 large fleece of medium, and fine" medium wool ; but in closing this paper 



