No. 4.] SHEEP BREEDING. 123 



it was left for the farmers to keep sheep at a loss or go out of 

 the business. 



At the present time there has been an advance in the price 

 of wool of nearly 300 per cent, and there are no records to show 

 that mutton and lamb ever sold at as high prices as they have 

 in the past two years. 



Now we have the same farms that produce the same variety 

 of grasses, a better educated and more intelligent class of 

 farmers, and it is now claimed that New England is not adapted 

 to sheep. 



In order to explain why some breeds of sheep are better 

 adapted to New England than others it will be necessary to 

 give the origin of some of the breeds that are now kept in 

 the New England States. 



The merino is the oldest domesticated breed of sheep, and 

 from the merino all European breeds are descendants. 



The Spaniards bred for wool alone without any regard for 

 size or build of carcass, and for centuries the kingdom of Spain 

 monopolized the world's fine wool tradp, and the price was 

 established by law, and it sold at $5 per pound in every country. 



A little more than a century ago the Spanish merino sheep 

 were imported into New England, and here the climate, feed 

 and general conditions were such that they improved rapidly, 

 not only in weight of fleece but in size and build of carcass. 

 Many of those flocks were kept pure, and they were crossed 

 upon the native breed of sheep which were descendants of the 

 sheep brought to this country by the Pilgrims, and which had 

 become acclimated and were a hardy race of sheep. 



Now they were the breeds of sheep that w^ere kept in New 

 England from fifty to one hundred years ago, and at a time 

 when nearly all of the wool and mutton that was used in the 

 New England States was grown right here in New England. 



A large part of the mutton breeds of sheep that are now 

 kept in the New England States originated in England, where, 

 with a moist climate and a rich soil, rape, cabbage and roots, 

 upon which they are wintered, grow to perfection, and with 

 the best of grasses during the summer season they attain a 

 great size. 



The area of England is no larger than the State of Michigan, 



