318 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN TEXAS. 



of the fleece, not scattered through it in small yellow particles resem- 

 bling bee-bread, or in occasional white waxy concretions. The former 

 defect is commonest in the American, the latter in the French Merino. 

 Neither of them appertain to the Saxon. The oil of the fleece should 

 appear like a delicate white perfectly transparent varnish, or some thinner 

 fluid, barely coating over every fibre to give it lustre. As already said, 

 it is objectionable to have it fill up the interstices of the wool, as if it 

 had been poured in, and doubly so if its color is yellowish. If quite yel- 

 low and viscid, it is called " yolk." 



The wool of the Merino should closely cover every wool-bearing part. 

 It should be thick and long on the belly as well as on the back, and the 

 bare spots for the movements of the legs, etc., should occupy only the 

 surface absolutely necessary for that purpose. It should look, when its 

 pelage is out at full length, like a bundle of wool on legs. But wool 

 below the knees and hocks, and on the point of the nose, is like throati- 

 ness, one of those " fancy points" which is highly valued by some, and 

 objected to by others. The wool on these parts is inferior, and trifling 

 in weight. It does not, as novices often imagine, specially indicate a 

 heavy fleece. That on the legs gets foul with mud or dug, when it comes 

 in contact with it, and that on the nose often so impedes the sight, that 

 unless it is sheared away two or three times a year, the animal can see 

 neither forward nor backward, nor scarcely sideways, without awkwardly 

 twisting about its head. I confess I rather like the peculiarity ; but there 

 can be no doubt it would be undesirable in sheep which must travel and 

 ".look out for themselves" on extensive plains, and particularly so, if 

 there was any chance of their being attacked by dogs or beasts of prey. 



PRICE OF MERINOS. I shall recur to this subject, because the inciden- 

 tal discussion which has taken place on it, in your paper, renders me 

 desirous to submit some definite and tangible statements. I therefore 

 eay, definitely and tangibly, that pure-blood American Merino flocks ot 

 good quality, including the usual admixture of all ages and sexes, up to 

 four years old, can be bought for eight dollars a head, where one hundred 

 are taken ; for ten dollars a head, where fifty taken ; for twelve dollars 

 a head, where twenty-five are taken ; for twenty-five dollars a head, where 

 a half-dozen are taken. The pure-bred French sheep are comparatively 

 few, and though unpopular with the mass of wool-growers, are highly 

 prized by their breeders on account of their salableness in new regions. 

 I can give no approach to a uniform price on them. Good high-bred 

 French, grades, (a cross with the American Merino) resembling full-blood 

 French can be bought at from fifteen to twenty-five per cent, advance on 

 the price of American Merinos. 



Mongrel American Merinos not unfrequently denominated " full- 

 bloods," by sheep-growers who have no record of pedigree, oftentimes 

 no distinct conception of what constitutes a pedigree can be purchased 

 in nearly all the Northern and Middle States, at .from two to four dollars 

 a head, according to the prevailing market prices of sheep at the time. 

 Most of them are a cross between the Saxon and " Native" sheep, with a 

 later infusion of Merino blood. Where the Saxon admixture was strong, 

 these sheep are often as fine as pure-blood Merinos. But their fleeces are 

 lighter; their constitutions much less vigorous; and like all mongrels 

 made up between distinct races, they are lacking in uniformity. 



COST OF IMPORTATION. There are three ways of getting sheep from 

 the Northern States to Texas by the Ocean and Mississppi River routes, 

 and bytb? land route. Where time is no object, and the number of 



