SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



mania, it was found that too great a sacrifice had been made in that 

 direction. This error was rectified by introducing into the flock some 

 of the progeny of that remarkable sheep, Frederick Bakewell, weigh- 

 ing 200 pounds. The lost mutton and wool were thus restored, and a^ 

 system of in-and-in breeding was followed until 1828, when Mr. Meade! 

 thought he had established a permanent, valuable variety, and offered! 

 it to the country. 



At that time the sheep presented a fine form ; the carcass averaged 

 about 165 pounds of good palatable flesh. The rams produced 13 

 pounds of wool; the average of a flock of one hundred was 8| pounds. 

 One ram lamb of first shear produced 14 pounds of wool ; his carcass^ 

 weighed 162 pounds. From a later statement by Mr. Meade, July 22,1 

 1831, we learn that his whole flock that year, 130 in number, averaged 

 8 pounds of wool; that 28 sheared an average of 10 pounds each, and 

 some of the heaviest fleeces weighed 16 J pounds. Mr. Meade contin- 

 ued the improvement to the time of his death, February, 1833, and his 

 sheep became deservedly popular and were becoming widely dissemi- 

 nated through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, the C a toe ton Valley 

 in Maryland, and the Cumberland in Pennsylvania. Some found their 

 way into other parts of Virginia and Maryland, and into Ohio. Sev- 

 eral years after Mr. Meade's death sheep bred from his flock gave fleeces 

 weighing as much as 18 pounds each. 



A ram and five ewes of this variety, direct descendants of Mr. Meade's 

 flock, were weighed and sheared at Spout Eun, Clark County, May 18, 

 1839, with the following result: 



Only two of these were considered above the average of the flock 

 from which they were taken. The wool was clean washed, and the ewes 

 were all suckling lambs. The rani was a yearling. 



Far different from the Arlington sheep and from this valuable im- 

 provement upon it, beautiful to look upon and eminently useful, was a 

 breed of cripples which now claims our attention. 



THE ANCON OR OTTER SHEEP. 



Seth Wright, who owned a small farm on the banks of Charles River, 

 about 16 miles from Boston, kept a little flock of common sheep com- 

 posed of 1 rani and 15 ewes. In the year 1791, one of the ewes pro- 

 duced a male lamb of singular appearance, differing, for no assignable 



