94 



SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



as far as English- speaking settlers bad gone, they were mixed descend-! 

 ants of various English breeds, with a few individuals of improved] 

 varieties in favored localities, and were of the long-wooled type. South: 

 of Georgia to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, in the pine woods of the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf coast, in the Southwest, in Texas, and away 

 across the continent to the Pacific coast, were found the degenerate 

 descendants of the early Spanish importations, the American scrub of 

 the present day, fast disappearing under good breeding and Merino 

 crosses. A few Merino sheep were to be found in Massachusetts, New^ 

 York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Ohio. A 

 new era in sheep husbandry now opened, with the Merino as its founcla-j 

 tion, and to its history, introduction, and dissemination we shall devote^ 

 some space, after a brief sketch of the household woolen industry which] 

 it was destined to supplant. 



Number of sheep and value thereof exported from the United States from the year ending^ 

 September SO, 1790, to year ending September 30, 1S16. 



