34 OGLE COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



sheep are not very hardy with us, and will do well only in 

 small flocks. 



SOUTH DOWNS AND MERINOS. 



South Down sheep are hardy and prolific, and make the 

 best of mutton, but they are rather small and shear the least 

 of any improved breed. Merinos are the most hardy and will 

 thrive better in larger flocks than any other breed, but they 

 are not very prolific, and do not amount to much as mutton 

 sheep. 



THE RAM SHOULD BE WELL BRED. 



I have had some experience with each of these breeds, 

 and with sheep crossed and mixed in almost every conceivable 

 way, and this would be my advice to a beginner : buy a uni- 

 form flock of high grade Merino ewes ; then get a good full- 

 blooded long-wool ram, either Leicester, Lincoln or Cotswold. 

 I should prefer a Leicester, because they fatten the most 

 readily, and are not quite so high priced as the other long 

 wools ; then the Leicester head is somewhat smaller than 

 the Lincoln or Cotswold, so that small ewes are less likely 

 to have trouble in lambing. Of this there is very little danger, 

 however, if the ram is well bred. It is the mongrel male that 

 makes trouble of this kind, for the get of highly bred ani- 

 mals is always small at birth. This is why it is safe to breed 

 the large Percheron-Norman to our common mares. For far- 

 ther proof of this proposition, compare the head and neck of 

 the mongrel bull with that of the highly bred Short Horn or 

 Devon, or the head and neck of the thoroughbred horse with 

 that of the mongrel stallion. 



THIS FIRST CROSS OF MERINOS 



and long wool sheep will give you the highest priced wool, and 

 increase the size of your sheep without diminishing the weight 

 of wool per fleece. Though the weight of wool will not be so 

 great in proportion to the weight of carcase. 



I would continue to use long wool rams until the wool 

 gets to be six to eight inches long. I would then use a South 

 Down ram, which would shorten and thicken the wool, and 



