California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



Ihcfp iuid (60iit 



What Breed is Best? 



tHE best breed of sheep for any given 

 climate and kind of pasturage is a ques- 

 tion that is worthy of some discussion, 

 as wide difference of opinion prevails 

 among sheep men. The breeders of each va- 

 riety seem to think their favorites the right 

 ones always. But the experience of those 

 who are engaged in the business for profit is 

 probably the most conclusive, especially when 

 the business is intelligently conducted with a 

 single eye to success. 



It has been demonstrated that the Mexican 

 sheep, graded with Merino, produces too 

 short a staple of wool, when sheared twice a 

 year, to bring a remunerative price. And, as 

 there are two seasons of short feed, and the 

 wool is consequently weakened thereby, it is 

 necessary to shear twice to avoid the weak 

 place ia the fleece which would render it 

 worthless for fulling. If our sheep men 

 could so contrive as to feed their sheep in the 

 Fall, and prevent the "break in the wool," it 

 would be best, undoubtedly. But there are 

 large sheep ranges that are now occupied in 

 such a manner that the saving of feed for 

 them is not deemed practicable. Shearing 

 them twice a year is the settled custom, and 

 a breed of sheep that will grow a longer fleece 

 than the pure Merino, or Merino mixed with 

 the common sheep, is needed for open ranges. 



Some of our experienced breeders are now 

 mixing the Cotswold with the Merino to give 

 length to the wool, and they find it a good 

 thing to do. The Cotswold not only gives a 

 greater length to the wool, but also gives a 

 heavier carcass, making the weathers much 

 more profitable as mutton sheep. By select- 

 ing the finest sheep for breeders, and care- 

 fully crossing a few times, until a uniform 

 texture of wool can be obtained throughout 

 the herd, it is found that one-fourth to one- 

 half Cotswold with Merino produces the re- 

 quired length, without giving coarseness 

 enough to materially lessen the value of the 

 fleece. The experience of McCraeken & 

 Lewis, of San Jose, who own several flocks 

 of sheep, and who have been experimenting 

 for some years in this direction, is, so far, 

 conclusive of the superior value of the cross 

 of the Cotswold with the Merino and common 

 sheep over the cross of the Merino and com- 

 mon sheep alone, as generally bred. Our 

 climate and sheep ranges are peculiar, and it 

 needs a good deal of experience to discover 

 the best exact crosses for greatest profit 

 where sheep must depend entirely on pastur- 

 age for subsistence. 



But when farmers generally find it profit- 

 able to keep a small flock of sheep upon their 

 farms, (as they surely will, in time, in Cali- 

 fornia) it will probably be found best to 

 keep the sheep in good condition the year 

 round and shear once a year. Then either 

 the long wool and heavy carcass or the very 

 fine wool sheep will be found best in their 

 purity, as there will always be a demand for 

 the finest staples at high figures, and also for 

 the long, strong combing wools at good prices. 



But, until the time comes when it will 



no longer be profitable to occupy large uncul- 

 tivated ranges with sheep, of course, it is a 

 matter of a good deal of concern to such 

 large sheep owners to get the best breeds and 

 crosses to suit their purposes. 



The MEKtNO.— This is what a writer in an 

 Eastern paper says in favor of the Merino 



sheep: 



For wool growing, the Merino has no equal, 

 and the mutton standpoint is not so objection- 

 able as some would have us believe, either in 

 quality or quantity. 



Where the proper breeding has been given 

 to produce heavy carcasses, the Merino has 

 and always will produce more mutton to the 

 acre than any other breed. It is the poor 

 num'B breed, for they will live and do well on 

 loss food than any other breed. 



For the pruduction of fancy wool, the South- 

 down, and perhaps all the Downs are to be 

 classed under this head, so far as quality of 

 mutton goes. Some of the Downs are "bet- 

 ter for wool than the famous Southdowns. 

 Those above, kept up to the standard of 

 breeding and feeding, are very profitable, and 

 are unquestionably the most fancy looking 

 sheep in a flock of from twenty to thirty-five. 



The combining of wool and mutton is met 

 exactly in the Cotswolds, Leicesters and Lin- 

 colns. Their large, heavy carcasses covered 

 with long, lustrous wool, seem the very em- 

 bodiment of sheep perfection. These, like 

 the Downs, required and demand rich pas- 

 tures and abundant food. Their breeding 

 qualities are not so good as the Downs, and 

 seldom do well in flocks of any size — say from 

 twenty-five to fifty, is as many as are profita- 

 ble to keep in one flock. Their mutton is too 

 fat for the American taste, but their early 

 maturity and great size will continue to make 

 them popular, especially while the demand 

 for combing wool lasts. There is no reason 

 to suspect any decline, either on their mutton 

 or wool. Their adaptation to bad treatment 

 and poor pastures, or hilly pastures, will for- 

 bid them ever becoming what is required of 

 them, by the careless or common shepherd. 



S.4XT AND Charcoal tor Sheep. — The use 

 of charcoal as well as salt has been highly 

 recommended for cattle, as tending to keep 

 them in good condition and help their general 

 improvement. Salt acts healthily on the 

 blood. Charcoal strengthens and heals the 

 mucus membrane throughout the alimentary 

 canal, and increases the power of the diges- 

 tive organs, healing any unhealthy condition 

 existing there. It prevents worms generating 

 in the stomach, etc; it absorbs the putrescent 

 gas by which worms are generated, and they 

 subsequently die. The free use of charcoal 

 and salt will contribute to protect cattle from 

 epidemics, and wiU counteract the eS'ects of 

 putrescent or septic water. Many farmers 

 have, doubtless, noticed that cattle and sheep 

 are remarkably healthy when running among 

 the charred stumps and logs recently burned 

 ofl' fields. We have known a flock of sheep, 

 poor in flesh, to improve to that extent, when 

 permitted to run among charred logs for a 

 few weeks, that they would bring double their 

 former value. The good eft'ect is not perhaps 

 so marked with cattle, but is always advan- 

 tageous to the health and prosperity of the 

 animal. 



He Thinks Sheep Pat Best. — In "Some 

 Sheep Talk, ' ' in the Xalionai Live Stock Jour- 

 nal, an experienced stock keeper says: 



I have been feeding some three hundred 

 head of cattle, and I am satisfied that even 

 with the most favorable conditions for selling 

 when the time comes, I shall make a great 

 deal more money, dollar for dollar, on the 

 money I invested in sheep than I sh.all make 

 on the capital invested in cattle. I have 

 about six hundred sheep, running without 

 any particular attention or care, and have sold 



one thousand four hundred dollars' worth of 

 wool of this year's clip, and have two hundred 

 and fifty lambs besides. I do not think it 

 possible to have done so well on an equal 

 amount of capital invested in cattle. One 

 great advantage sheep have over other stock 

 is, they never die of the contagious diseases 

 which they contract. They get the scab crt 

 foot rot, or something else, and if unchecked 

 it gets them in bad condition, and would ul- 

 timately, perhaps, kill them. But the very 

 worst contagious disease to which sheej) are 

 subject give the owner ample time to treat tho 

 aflfccted animals, and the diseases are gener- 

 ally of a character which yield readily to 

 treatment. 



A Comparison of Sheep. — A sheep breeder 

 says: All farmers should know the most i)ro- 

 fitable breed of sheep, and they %W11 never 

 know except as I have learned — by experi- 

 ence. 



The Merino is a small breed and makes a 

 small turn-out of wool but a large qualtity of 

 grease and dirt, which is very bad for the 

 buyer. If exposed to the weather, as sheep 

 generally are, they are short Uved; their 

 lambs are delicate and much trouble to raise. 



The Southdown is a much hardier sheep, 

 and better for wool or mutton than the Meri- 

 no; will shear more wool and not so much 

 grease and dirt; has a heavy carcass and is 

 superior as mutton. 



The Cotswold is acknowledged by all know- 

 ing stock men to be the heaviest breed now 

 known, sometimes weighing three to four 

 hundred pounds. Their wool is from three 

 to five times as long as the Southdown or 

 Merino, and is called combing or delain, and 

 is more sought after than any other kind. 

 They are vei-y prolific, sometimes giving birth 

 to three or four lambs, and most always two. 

 I have weighed lambs three weeks old which 

 weighed thirty to forty pounds. They stand 

 the Winter as well if not better than any other 

 breed. The Southdown is thought to be su- 

 perior as a mutton sheep, but I have never 

 been able to discover the difference when 

 brought to the table. The cross of the two 

 makes the Shropshiredown, a very fine sheep 

 for all purposes. — Souihfm Farmer. 



Deessiko Sheep. — If you want good, sweet 

 mutton.lkill your sheep without worr3-ing and 

 fatigue, the less exercise the better. Hang 

 him up by the hind legs and clean him at 

 once. Now change ends;*hang him by the 

 head, and skin down to the tail; the job ia 

 done in half the time, and done neatly. It is 

 not the wool that gives mutton the sheepy 

 taste and smell, it is the food dui-ing exercise 

 aud after being killed, hence the necessity of 

 speedy work until cleaned. This much I 

 have written for the young farmers, and ex- 

 pect some will try my plan, but the old far- 

 mers are like I am — have a way of their own, 

 and will do it their way or die. Now, I hojje 

 some of these hard heads will tell what they 

 know about sheep, too. -Sx. 



Extensive Use of the "Weed." 



The Americans are a nation of tobacco 

 chewers and smokers, though not so much as 

 some others given to the use of snuff. The 

 statistics of traffic in the "weed" are inter- 

 esting. They show that dviring the last fiscal 

 year we exported 318,097,804 pounds, valued 

 at $130,39'J,181, and imported 10,000,000 

 pounds of leaf aud stem, valued at §5,332,- 

 548 41, and 845.744 pound of cigars, or, in 

 round numbers 7(5,888,000 cigars, worth $3,- 

 038,628. In the same time, from foreign and 

 domestic material, we manufactured 1,780,- 

 901,000 cigars. The average daily consump- 

 tion is placed at 5,168,000, and the revenue 

 realized by Government was §39,392,936. 



Petersham has produced an auctioneer who 

 tells the truth. He recently told a bidder, 

 "You've got a good bargain on that sleigh you 

 bid off for $2 50. It is just .as good for "the 

 hens to roost on as one that costs $60. 



