614 BREEDING SHEEP. 



In America, selection of breeds for mutter, usually lies, accord- 

 ing to the best authorities, between the Southdown, New Leicester 

 and Improved Cotswolds. 



Best Sheep for Large Herds If it is desirable to keep 

 sheep in large numbers, the Southdown will herd better than the 

 others. If the feed is liable to become short during the summer 

 and there is not a certainty of the supply of the best winter feed, the 

 Southdown will endure short keep with less injury than other breeds. 

 If the market calls for choice and high-flavored mutton, the South- 

 down possesses a decided superiority. It will live and thrive where 

 the long-wooled sheep will dwindle away. They appear to travel 

 better than the long-wooled sheep and they better fulfill the con- 

 ditions of a mutton sheep in size and other particulars. 



What Sheep are Superior for Wool For the pro- 

 duction of wool only, none of these varieties seem able to stand com- 

 parison with the Merino in this country. According to estimates that 

 have been made by experiment, the herbage of an acre that would 

 yield fifteen pounds of Merino wool, will give but twelve pounds of 

 Leicester and nine and three-fifths pounds of Southdown wool. The 

 Leicester is no hardier than the Merino; indeed, experience seems 

 to indicate that it is less hardy. Under most favorable circum- 

 stances it is more subject to colds and its constitution breaks up 

 more rapidly under disease. Its lambs are more liable to die from 

 exposure under unfavorable circumstances; herded in large flocks, 

 pinched for food, or subjected to long journeys, its capacity for 

 endurance and its ability to rally cannot compare with those of the 

 Merino. 



Comparative Values of Different Breeds The high- 

 bred Southdown is the only sheep which seems able to stand on a 

 footing of equality with the Merino. It is questionable if it will 

 bear as hard stocking as the Merino does without diminution in 

 size and quality; but it has peculiar merits both as a mutton and 

 wool producing sheep and is also a very prolific breeder. The Im- 

 proved Cotswolds are hardier than the Leicesters; they are prolific 

 and make good grazing animals. Prize animals of this breed have 

 been known to reach three hundred pounds; they are large feeders 

 and their size renders it necessary that they should have a large 1 

 quantity of food. The coarse-wooled sheep have one advantage 

 over the Merino, because their hoofs do not grow so long and thus 

 hold dirt and filth in constant contact with the foot, and they are 

 therefore less subject to foot diseases, and when contracted the dis- 

 ease spreads among them with less violence and malignity. The 

 coarser wooled sheep are superior to the Merino for purposes of 

 mutton, but the authorities do not admit that this is true to so great 

 an extent as is generally claimed. The mutton cf the cross between 

 the Merino and the native sheep will be found preferable to that of 

 the Leicester for consumption in America. It is short-grained, 

 tender and of good flavor, and this may be said also of other Eng- 



