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merchants. But the prices that were obtained y,ear after year by 

 those engaged in growing this product, incited me to read everything 

 1 could find about the business. I found that the market was in- 

 creasing, that I was only a few hours from New York, that some 

 commission merchants were as honorable as men in other business. 

 I finally had the whole theory but did not have the lambs. We had 

 from my earliest recollection been growing Merinos of the Delaine 

 type, having the lambs born in March and April. We let a flock of 

 ewes run over one fall without breeding, and turned the ram with 

 them the following Spring. We found they conceived as well in 

 May as in October. Bear in mind our ewes at that time were all 

 pure Merinos of the Delaine type. A further surprise, and one 

 quite as agreeable, was that the lambs born in the fall grew more 

 rapidly and when sent to market at three to four months old brought 

 more than lambs of the same breeding born six to eight months earl- 

 ier. Still we did not get the prices we had read about. We used a 

 mutton sire of a Down breed, but our lambs were not prime. The 

 lambs had too mnch wool before they had size or were fat enough. 

 The ewes were not good enough sucklers, to make the lambs choice. 

 It seemed reasonable that the pure or grade mutton breeds would be 

 more profitable for this business. We provided ourselves with small 

 flocks of three of the leading mutton breeds but February with an 

 occasionsl lamb in January was as early as we could get lambs from 

 them. That was not early enough for best prices. 



One year I tried twenty-five young Merino-Southdown ewes, 

 putting them with an equal number of pure Merinos and turned ram 

 with them in June. The first lamb from the cross-bred ewes was 

 dropped in March after most of the lambs from the Merinos were 

 marketed. 



We had before this learned the merits of the Dorset and had se- 

 cured a ram. The half-blood lambs pleased us in appearance and 

 in profits. The next step was to get some half-blood ewes. We 

 have them, use them and are satisfied. The Merino-Dorset ewe is 

 the right one for growing winter lambs. 



May is a favorable month with me for breeding. I would pre- 

 fer to breed a month or six weeks later but the ewes or ram, or 

 both are not so favorable to it. I would prefer not to have the lambs 



