SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 39 



AVON, NEW YOKK, April 21, 1878. 



DEAR SIR, You ask my views of improved sheep husbandry, and 

 its adaptability to the South. My personal experience as a breeder of 

 sheep has been mainly with American merinos, in Western New York ; 

 though I have bred Cots wolds and other long- wool varieties to some 

 extent. 



In my immediate vichyty are some of the most skilful and success- 

 ful breeders of American merinos in this country. I have at all times 

 been quite familiar with their flocks, and watched with greatest care 

 and interest the results of the different experiments in management 

 and breeding. 



The little, light-fleeced foreigners imported from Spain, between A.D. 

 1800 and 1813, by Colonel Humphreys, Consul Jarvis, and others, 

 were transformed by Messrs. Atwood of Connecticut, Hammond of 

 Vermont, and others, into a type of sheep so far superior, in constitu- 

 tion, form, and weight of fleece, and altogether so widely different from 

 the original importation, as to be regarded a distinct variety ; and, in 

 justice to our breeders, the word Spanish was dropped, and the term 

 American merinos applied to them. 



To continue this improvement in our stud flocks, a system for iden- 

 tifying and individualizing the sheep has been inaugurated, by placing 

 a permanent metallic label in the ear of each sheep, containing its 

 flock number; and an accurate record is made of the general charac- 

 teristics of each sheep, giving weight of fleece, length and quality of 

 staple, form, and breeding qualities, &c., and preserving the pedigree 

 of each individual for a public register. This additional care has ena- 

 bled our breeders to attain greater and more valuable fleeces than ever 

 before produced from this variety of sheep. Our flocks are small, 

 usually containing from fifty to one hundred breeding ewes : the clip of 

 which will, in some instances, average upwards of fifteen pounds each, 

 while selections of ewes not in breeding often shear as high as eighteen 

 to twenty -two pounds, unwashed ; which scour from six to seven and a 

 half pounds. The live weight of these ewes reaches ninety to one hun- 

 dred and thirty pounds. The stock rams produce from twenty-six 

 pounds to thirty-six pounds ; yielding about the same proportion of 

 scoured wool, weight one hundred and fifty pounds to one hundred and 

 ninety pounds. 



And these sheep are the direct descendants, without admixture of 

 other blood, of the importations from Spain prior to 1813, which gave 

 three to five pounds unwashed wool from ewes, and seven to nine 

 pounds from rams. 



