34 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA 



breed, nothing just like it being found elsewhere. 

 That it has not overspread all the region of the corn- 

 belt is singular, since it has great merit. I found 

 these sheep almost lost and forgotten in Michigan 

 and parts of Ohio during my investigations for the 

 Tariff Board, and found them in some neighbor- 

 hoods in great numbers, constituting indeed nearly 

 the whole mass of sheep kept in the country. Al- 

 most without exception, I found them healthy and in 

 fine, strong condition, whole flocks of them shearing 

 10 pounds per head and their lambs weighing with 

 light feeding at 8 to 10 months old 85 pounds each, 

 and that is as heavy as the market approves. When 

 the Blacktop ewes were bred to rams of one of the 

 English breeds their lambs were very much heavier 

 and finer, weighing often 100 pounds at 8 months 

 of age. 



The most striking fact concerning these sheep, 

 however, was that they rarely showed signs of para- 

 sites, whereas flocks of other breeds were often 

 badly infested. Blacktops have been developed by 

 men who were not liberal feeders. For hundreds 

 of years these sheep lived on coarse and often scanty 

 fare. While the well-fed flocks looked best and made 

 the most profit, yet I saw many flocks that subsisted 

 in winter mainly on straw, a little corn fodder, a 

 very little hay and a wee bit of grain before lambing. 

 I am certain that none of the English breeds could 

 subsist on such fare without coming to sure ruin. 



The reader may well wonder why these sheep have 

 not received fame and honor before now. Tardv 



