280 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



as an auxiliary means of prosel3'ting. And it is this very isolation from 

 the commercial world which caused so sudden a disappearance of a great 

 agricultural industry. Brief, however, as was its existence, it rose to 

 such a magnitude as served a great purpose. It left a history full of sig- 

 nificance to an energetic race following shortl}'' afterwards, and bringing 

 in their advent commercial necessities as fixed as natural laws. This 

 new race is re-establishing sheep husbandry in California on a basis so 

 firm and enduring that no adventitious circumstances can accomplish its 

 ruin. 



The following extract from an article written by James E. Perkins, 

 Secretary of the California Wool Growers' Association, will be found 

 interesting as a comprehensive review of sheep husbandry in the State, 

 from its settlement by Americans down to the year eighteen hundred 

 and sixty-tiu-ee : 



"For several years after the settlement of this State, the opinion pre- 

 vailed very generall}' that sheep could not be raised here to any ])rofit 

 for their wool. It was argued that the extreme heat of the summer and 

 the dr}" food on which they must subsist for a large part of the year 

 would tend to produce a fleece so light and thin as scared}" to pay for 

 shearing. Under this impi-ession, those who owned or purchased sheep, 

 looked only to the market for mutton for their outlet and profit. 



" Scarcely anything but the native or New Mexican sheep could be 

 found, and these, worthless as they were, were still farther debased by 

 crossing with some Chinese rams, which v/ere imported about the year 

 eighteen hundred and fifty-two, or three. The only recommendation 

 either of these classes of sheep possessed was their prodigious fecundity, 

 the ewes often bearing triplets, almost invariably twins, and sometimes 

 five, and even seven lambs at a birth. In size, form, constitutional 

 vigor, and disposition, they were the perfection of all that is undesirable, 

 while their fleece rarely exceeded two or two and one half pounds of 

 coarse, uneven, kempy wool, suited only to the ver}^ lowest class of 

 fiibrics, scarcely worth the cost of sacking and transporting to market. 

 Yet it is from this basis that our stocks of the present day have mainly 

 sprung, and we owe to it the demonstration of the suitability of our 

 climate and grasses for the raising and keeping of the superior classes to 

 which we are now approaching. 



"During the years eighteen hundred and fiftj^-two, three, and four, 

 quite a number of Missouri and a few Ohio sheep were driven across the 

 plains, and towards the latter of those years, sonic fine importations of 

 Austi-alian sheep were received, all of which found a rcadj- sale at remu- 

 nerative prices. Most sheep raisers, who have been long in the business, 

 can well remember when the possession of a very ordinar}- American 

 ram was considered a most fortunate thing, and half-breeds, that is, 

 crosses of American rams on Mexican ewes, were eagerly sought for. 



" The immense increase of sheep raised in the State, and the continued 

 introduction of immense droves from New Mexico, very shortly brought 

 the stock of mutton sheep fully up to the demand from the butchers, and 

 threatened, at no distant time, to be so largely in excess as to reduce 

 prices far below the cost of production. As early as the j^ear eighteen 

 hundred and fifty-four, some of our most enterprising sheep raisers 

 anticijjatcd this result, and believiiig that a climate and range on Avhich 

 the poorer breeds seemed to thrive so well must answer equally as well 

 for tlio higher classes of shee]), and that tliey could be raised here for 

 the fleece alone, set about the importation of thoroughbred merino rams 



