[248] 



The imported and American bred Cotswolds and their offspring are not 

 superior either in carcass or fleece to those of my own breeding. I clipped 

 samples of wool from Prince of Wales, an imported English bred buck, 

 and also from a ewe of my own breeding which, through several genera- 

 tions, could be traced back through the Merino cross to the native. I sent 

 these samples to my wool merchants in Boston, Mass., with history of the 

 wool, and requested their opinion of the wool on its merits. They pro- 

 nounced the ewe's wool superior to the buck's! It was equally as good 

 combing, about eighteen inches long, was of finer and stronger fibre, soft 

 to the touch, attributable to the shade of Merino in it. 



The effects of the cross to the Spanish Merino in fineness and softness of 

 fibre and density of fleece and strength of staple remain for many genera- 

 tions. I cull my ewes annually at shearing time, marking all that are 

 deficient in form or fleece, or that are becoming aged, and set them apart 

 with the wethers for mutton, which are sold the following spring, after 

 taking from them their fleece, they commanding a better price than ordi- 

 nary sheep, because they gross less and are better mutton. 



I sold a lot last spring (fatted principally on grass) to the butchers of 

 Chattanooga, that averaged 166| Ibs. gross, having clipped an average oi 

 lOf , Ibs. of nice combing wool, which sold at 37 o cents per Ib. The price 

 received for them was 6 cents per Ib. gross, netting me $14 per head, while 

 the market for ordinary mutton was 4 cents. They grossed less than one- 

 third, and were sold for 15 cents per Ib. net, and, like Oliver Twist, "the 

 cry was for more." (And here, by way of parenthesis, allow me to say 

 -that all improved stock, hogs, cattle, etc., will give like results over the 

 scrub.) 



I never breed in-and-in, its effects tell more rapidly and surely upon 

 sheep than upon any other stock. 



The buck is allowed to go to the ewes about the middle of August, and 

 is taken from them in November or December. The buck should not be 

 allowed to run with the ewes after they are impregnated or while they are 

 lambing, as there is danger of miscarriage by his injuring them. If a 

 ewe miscarries or loses a lamb after mature birth, she will usually let the 

 buck serve her again in a week or two after such loss, and sometimes 

 when the ewe is nursing she will be served by the buck, which causes 

 lambs to be dropped at unseasonable times, keeping the ewe in poor con- 

 dition and difficult to keep through the winter, with a delicate lamb and 

 loss of lamb from her the next spring. 



The ewe lambs should not be bred until a year old past. It checks 

 their growth and weakens their constitution. 



In Tennessee we have a wonderful diversity of soil, climate, locality 

 and pasturage. In East Tennessee we have the hills and mountains, an 

 almost inexhaustible summer range, with locality elevated and dry, with 

 never-failing streams of pure water, also the productive valleys, river and 

 creek bottoms, with their rich meadows. In Middle Tennessee we have 



