SHEEP. 



485 



is to augment the constitutional lack of fertility of 

 the Merinos. 



We have spoken particularly of the introduc- 

 tion of the Merino to America, from the fact that 



American Merino Sheep. 



this breed now forms the basis of the American 

 sheep industry. In the words of a recent authority : 

 " England is a mutton, America a wool country ; 

 the sheep of the United States are 95 per cent. Me- 

 rino." Of English sheep there is only one breed, 

 the Southdown, whose wool is comparatively fine. 

 On the other hand, the mutton of the mature Ameri- 

 can Merino is often excellent, and occasionally ap- 

 proaches the Southdown in quality. On the Atlan- 

 tic slope of the United States the Merino sheep has 



its stock from the prairie region. Throughout this 

 whole western country, which has abundant pastu- 

 rage admirably adapted for sheep culture, the in- 

 crease of sheep flocks within recent years has been 

 very great. In Texas the wool 

 clip increased from 7,000,000 

 Ibs. in 1870 to 22,000,000 Ibs. 

 in 1880, and the increase else- 

 where has been equally prom- 

 ising. 



Of the English breeds in- 

 troduced into this country the 

 principal are the Southdown, 

 Leicester, and Cotswold. Of 

 these the Southdown is pre- 

 ferred by many to the Merino, 

 being one - third 

 larger, hardier, 

 much more proli- 

 fic, and yielding 

 better mutton. Its 

 wool is large in 

 quantity and fair 

 in quality. The 

 Leicester breed 

 Las a heavier fleece 

 and carcass than 

 the Merino, but 

 needs more food. 



Its wool is long staple, but, like English wools gen- 

 erally, is deficient in felting properties and therefore 

 unsuitable for cloths. As a combing wool it stands 

 first, and is used to manufacture the finest worsteds. 

 The Cotswold is also much esteemed, yielding excel- 

 lent mutton and fair wool. As a rule the fine-wooled 

 sheep, like the Merino, are less profitable as mutton 

 producers than the coarse-wooled, no satisfactory 

 combination of excellence in mutton and fineness in 

 wool having yet been produced, feheep generally 



no pre-eminence, except in limited localities, as in produce finer wool in cold than in warm countries, 



Vermont. There is a greater proportion of the old 

 American stock, described by Youatt as a mongrel 

 Southdown with Leicester and Cotswold. In most 

 of the southern States there has been little careful 

 breeding, the sheep baing left to care for them- 

 selves. In the West the breeds are better defined 

 and more improved. Much attention has been given 

 i i the breeding of the Merino in western Pennsyl- 

 vania, West Virginia, and Ohio, and more recently 

 in Michigan and Wisconsin, in which States wool 

 predominates over matton production. Less care 

 has been given to the Merino in the prairie region, 

 and there has been much cross breeding. The Eng- 

 lish long-wooled sheep appear to do better in this 

 region, they being less affocted by its characteristic 

 disease of foot rot. In Texas and New Mexico, 

 among the most important of our sheep-raising dis- 

 tricts, the original sheep was the Mexican, a de- 



t hough in the latter the yield is greater, probably 

 from the greater abundance of nutritious food. 



The principal breeds of sheep now raised in the 

 United States are the (so-called) Natives, the Span- 

 ish and the Saxon Merinos, the New Leicester or 

 Bakewell, the Southdown, the Cotswold, the Cheviot, 

 and the Lincoln. The common sheep of Holland 

 were early imported by the Dutch settlers of New 

 York, but do not now exist as a distinct variety. 

 The broad-tailed sheep of Asia and Africa has been 

 several times imported from Persia, Tunis, Asia 

 Minor, etc. The United States, on the other hand, 

 has done little in the way of producing distinctive 

 breeds, perhaps from lack of efforts at selection. 

 The miscalled Native is in no sense indigenous, but 

 is the outcome of indiscriminate crossing of the ear- 

 lier importations, mostly of English varieties. Two 

 races of distinctive cliaiacter have arisen, the Otter 



seendant from the Chnurro of the Basque provinces of [ and the Smith's Island breeds, but no trace of them 

 Kp.iin. This is a long, lank, light sheep, with little f is now known to exist. The Otter made its appear- 



iiml poor wool, but with the advantage of being very ance in Massachusetts in 1791. A lamb was born 



hardy and prolific. The Merino was introduced into with longer body and shorter legs than usual, and 



Texas in 1852, and has greatly increased in that State, as this promised to check the tendency to leap over 



its constitutional defects being overcome by crossing fences, it was carefully bred from ; but the breed 



with the Mexican stock. The sheep stock of Texas has been allowed to die out. 



is now said to be fc Mexican, $ half-Mexican, and A very great variety of crosses have been made 



the remainder half to pure Merino. In New Mexico between the Spanish, English, and Natives, this 



the great bulk of the sheep are Mexican. Califor- having been practised to such an extent that few 



nia, which is now one of the most important of our United States flocks are now of pure blood. This 



Bheep-raising States, began this industry in 1852. has not been wholly the result of carelessness, but 



The sheep there are said to be 75 per cent, pure Me- was done in many cases advisedly for the purpose of 



rino, but, having been grafted on the old Mexican or combining the advantages of separate breeds. And 



Mission stock, are very hardy and prolific, while ex- even where efforts to preserve purity of blood have 



cellont wool-bearers. The remainder of the Pacific been made, certain variations have arisen incident to 



States and Territories have derived their sheep from a new country and new management. Thus the 



California, their stock being mostly Merinos. Colo- American Merinos have diverged into varieties pre- 



rado, an important sheep-raising State, has obtained senting marked differences from each other and from 



