316 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN TEXAS. 



ating prices. This class of wool is borne both by the American and 

 French Merino. 



As a pioneer and experimental sheep, you want the hardiest variety 

 one capable of resisting a change of climate and circumstances, general or 

 local difficulties in the way of acclimation, and the effects of inexperienced 

 management. As a distinct variety, there can be no reasonable doubt, 

 I think, that the pure American Merino is better able to ** rough it " in a 

 new country than the pure French Merino, though I appr.ehend the latter 

 will ultimately do well enough in your mild climate. ~No person ac- 

 quainted with both breeds will hesitate to believe, that in a summer 

 drouth, or during a severe winter scarcity, the former will suffer less 

 than the latter as much less as black cattle would suffer, under like cir 

 cumstances, than the larger Shorthorns. The impression is also univer- 

 sal, and certainly every appearance and analogy would seem to favor it, 

 that the American Merino will herd best in very large numbers. 



But it is not necessary that you limit yourselves exclusively to one 

 variety. He who wants to grow very large wethers for plantation use, 

 or for sale, or he who wishes to grow a larger fine-woolled sheep as a 

 matter of taste, and is prepared to take care of them, wifl find his wishes 

 met by the French sheep ; or if wethers weighing from 150 Ibs. to 200 Ibs., 

 and ewes weighing from 120 Ibs. to 140 Ibs., are large enough for him, he 

 can get them by a cross between the French and American varieties. 



These last, if well bred, compose a beautiful and hardy sub-variety. I 

 bought a flock of them, last winter, mostly French, which were dropped 

 in May, 1858. They were kept in the common way, without pampering. 

 They were thoroughly washed and sheared at the common time, about 

 the close of June, 1859. Their wool was destitute of gum, about as white 

 at the outer as inner end, and seemingly almost as free from oil as cot- 

 ton. They averaged six pounds and four ounces of wool per head. I be- 

 lieve that a cross between such ewes and a very heavy and " greasy " 

 fleeced American Merino ram, would carry the average a pound higher 

 in the produce. I am so confident of this, that I am availing myself of 

 the results of such a cross on a comprehensive scale. The ewes are un- 

 commonly fine-woolled of their kind. The ram used weighs but 150 Ibs. 

 in full fleece, -and his washed fleece (as well as it could be washed) 

 weighed 14 Ibs. Of course he was excessively oily and gummy, and it 

 was for that very reason he was selected for the experiment. His lambs, 

 two months after birth, began to be colored very perceptibly by the oil 

 inherited from their sire. 



It is legitimate in breeding, to counteract one defect with another. I 

 have noticed for twenty-five years that the oiliest and gummiest Merino 

 ranis cross best with the dry coarse-woolled varieties. I have recently 

 noticed that the cross between the French ram and such varieties rarely 

 results very satisfactorily. There is another reason for this. Where the 

 size of the male is greatly disproportioned to that of the female, the un- 

 born lamb has not room to expand in the womb, and it is born crooked 

 and unshapely generally thin-chested and flat-ribbed. Hence" I entirely 

 prefer the cross between the French ewe and American Merino ram to 

 the one made conversely. 



Am I asked at this point, if it is legitimate to breed extraneous sub- 

 stances, like oil and gum, and sell them for wool ? Certainly not. On 

 the other hand, is it legitimate for the wool buyer and manufacturer to 

 make no fair distinction between clean and dirty wool ? He who sells 

 "greasy" woals in broad daylight, without splitting his fleeces or resort- 



