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Only the most healthy, finely-formed, and well-wooled ewes are kept as 

 breeders; and the utmost care has been taken, and no reasonable expense 

 has been spared, to secure rams to breed to them of a similar character, 

 and which would impart some superior qualities to the flock; and no ram 

 has ever been used with any, even the slightest, taint of disease upon him. 

 In this manner, and by frequent crosses with animals which were not 

 even remotely related to each other (except in the cases and for the pur- 

 poses above stated), and also by crossing with rams of different bree'ds* 

 without making violent crosses, a degree of health and vigor has been in- 

 fused into this breed which, I feel assured, is not surpassed, if indeed it is 

 equaled, in any other. So great is their tendency to take on flesh and fat 

 that ewes which lose their lambs not unfrequently become, on grass 

 alone, too fat to breed; and in several instances I have seen fully three 

 inches of fat on the ribs, after being dressed for mutton, though fed on 

 grass only. 



As to their prolific character, native ewes, under favorable circum- 

 stances, very frequently, if not most commonly, have twins, and being 

 good nurses, generally raise them well. Notwithstanding the accidents 

 to which they are liable in the absence of a regular shepherd, and despite 

 the rigors of winter endured without shelter, I have often, when the flock 

 of this breed of sheep was smaller than at present, raised one-third more 

 lambs than there were ewes, and have rarely failed to raise as many 

 lambs as ewes even under unfavorable circumstances. 



As it is not desirable, for many reasons, that sheep should have the size 

 of bullocks, other valuable qualities have not been sacrificed to obtain a 

 large carcass alone. Perhaps they are now fully as large as is compati- 

 ble with that activity of habit which is indispensable to a breed which 

 shall come into general use in the West and South. Larger and less ac- 

 tive animals will always be more liable to the sheep-bot, and to the dep- 

 redations of dogs, their flesh will be less captivating both to the eye and 

 to the palate, and the animals will be less capable of roaming in quest of 

 food and water over large pastures and prairies. 



None of these sheep have ever been fully fatted, and their weights care- 

 fully noted, within my knowledge; but a few years since, I sold sixteen 

 wethers of this breed to a sheep-dealer and farmer, at fifteen dollars per 

 head, and he wrote me: "I sold them at twenty-five dollars per head, 

 and the person I sold them to did well with them. They took the pre- 

 mium over a fine lot of Cotswold wethers. I consider them better than 

 the Cotswold for mutton and wool, and think they feed more kindly than 

 any sheep I ever saw. They were pronounced by all, the best sheep in 

 the market." I extract from my sheep register the following weights of 

 some of them taken in the month of August: A yearling ram, 174 pounds; 

 a two year old ram never shorn, 224 pounds; a grown ewe, 162 pounds; 

 a ewe lamb, 114 pounds; all weighed off of grass, without extra keeping 

 of any kind. 



