480 
being saturated with yellow gum of the consistency of bee-bread. They 
are less desirable for cross-breeding and shorter lived than the Spanish. 
The American merino is a good sheep, with moderately fine form, 
yielding good medium wool, at the rate of five to ten pounds per fleece. 
The Australian merino has decreased in numbers in the last seven or 
eight years. It is of good form, though small, and yields from four to 
six pounds per fleece of very fine, even wool. It is well adapted to 
running in large fiocks; but the lambs are tender, and need care when 
dropped. These sheep were introduced in 1857 or 1858, by a Mr. 
Thompson, who bought 36 head on an Australian vessel in San Fran- 
scisco; crossing them with other merinos, especially with the Spanish, 
increased the weight of the fleece; but crosses with common sheep soon 
proved unprofitable. A sample of the fleece of a yearling ram, the off- 
spring of this flock, is still preserved, the fiber being 11 inches long. 
Their carcase is small, but the mutton and wool are both fine. 
Cotswolds were imported over twenty years ago, and were very pop- 
ular for ten or fifteen years; but when the native grasses became short, 
and flocks bad increased from 50 to 1,000 head, these sheep became less 
profitable, and are going out of use. They are still of value in small 
flocks, where mutton is in good demand at high prices, and where food 
is abundant and of good quality. 
The Leicesters were imported about 1860, by Mr. A. McKinley, a Scotch 
gentleman, who had previously been in the service of the Hudson Bay 
Company. Another variety, called the New Oxford, is but little known, 
but is spoken of as superior for the production of combing-wool. 
Fifteen years ago the Southdowns were very common; but their light 
fleeces have rendered them unpopular, and they are falling into neglect. 
A slight cross of the Southdown blood on other varieties is beneficial, 
improving: the form, action, and hardiness of the resultant breed. They 
were imported from England by the Hudson Bay Company about twenty- 
five years ago. 
In 1845 the Hudson Bay Company had a large flock of Spanish and 
Mexican sheep, of very sinall frames, shearing from one-half to one and 
a half poands per head, and dressing but twenty-five to thirty-five pounds 
per carcase. <A flock of 50 common sheep was brought across the plains 
from Missouri, by Mr. E. M. Adams, in 1847, and about the same time a 
flock of 75 was brought by a Mr. Shaw. These were the only sheep at 
that time in Oregon, including, as it then did, Washington Territory. 
The crossing of these flocks constituted what are termed the common 
breed of the country, which average from three to six pounds per fleece, 
and dress about fifty pounds per carcass. These sheep, if not too deeply 
crossed with Leicester or Cotswold, produce wool a little below medinm, 
and excellent mutton. They do well in large flocks. 
Mr. Newby estimates the average cost per annum of keeping sheep 
in Oregon at not over 50 cents per head, though there is a wide range 
of difference. East of the Cascade Mountains, where the great mass of 
the sheep are kept, many flocks get through the winter on the abun- 
dant and nutritious bunch-grass; but this is in localities where the 
snow-fall is light. A shepherd is there employed for every 1,000 head, 
at a salary of about $300 per annum. Sometimes hay, to the extent of 
40 tons per 1,000 head, is provided, at the cost of $5, per ton; but fre- 
quently not over half the hay is used. 
In the Willamette Valley flocks rauge from twenty-five to three hun- 
dred head, some reaching as high as two thousand or three thousand. 
The cost here varies from about nothing to seventy-five cents per head. 
4 
