EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 327 



to breed from and to select from, the necessity for close breeding no 

 longer exists. If long continued, close in-breeding has a tendency to 

 induce weak constitution and sterility. Some of the Vermont flocks 

 have been bred very closely in order to fix or continue extraordinary 

 excellence, and have preserved the strength, constitution, and repro- 

 ducing powers of the best known flocks of the State in those respects. 



With great attention to all essential points, great skill in handling 

 and an abiding faith in the type he is raising, the Vermont breeder has 

 produced a sheep differing widely from its imported ancestors of eighty 

 years ago. He has produced a sheep of uniform type and quality that 

 can be maintained for an indefinite time and improved. Nature has given 

 man a helping hand in this improvement. She has given him the pure 

 invigorating mountain air and soil and grasses which have impressed cer- 

 tain characteristics and qualities of the sheep breed there, which are lost 

 when the sheep are taken elsewhere. In most wool-growing sections of 

 the West and South the tendency is to grow coarser, thinner, and lighter 

 fleeces, due in great measure to the grasses upon which the sheep feed. 

 This tendency calls for a renewal of blood, producing heavier fleeced 

 animals, and Vermont fills the demand. And yet that demand is 

 limited and more and more circumscribed to Addison County. Sheep- 

 raisers appreciate this fact and another fact, that the West competes 

 with them in breeding the Merino, even for the Australian market, and 

 the disposition to breed the Merino more for mutton increases. They 

 believe success is open to them in this line if they select breeding sheep 

 from the less wrinkly animals, taking especial pains that they are long 

 of staple, broad on the shoulders and back, and take on fat readily. 

 But they do not advocate a cross with other or coarse breeds. They be- 

 lieve in the Merino with its tine wool of a longer staple, and that the 

 mutton type of the Merino is the demand of the day. This type is 

 as pure in blood and possesses all the valuable characteristics of the 

 true Merino. 



The mutton modification, however, is not generally popular with the 

 old breeders of Vermont. But some of them, recognizing the demands 

 of the day, will give their opinion as to how to breed a mutton Merino 

 sheep. This can be accomplished, say they, by selecting well formed 

 ewes that weigh 80 to 100 pounds per head, according to flesh, and 

 rams of good form that weigh from 140 to 180 pounds, in good flesh, 

 and that shear from 20 to 30 pounds per head. The sheep and lambs 

 require good, liberal keeping the year round. 



By following these directions, wethers can be produced that will weigh, when 

 two years old, in good flesh, from 100 to 120 pounds, and from 10 to 15 pounds more 

 at three years old. They will also produce a fleece far more valuable than that of 

 any of the coarse-wooled breeds of sheep. This class of sheep is hardy, and does 

 not consume as much food as the same number of coarse-wooled sheep. They will 

 bring top prices by the pound in the Eastern markets, and stand shipment better 

 than the long-wooled breeds, as they are more docile and more easily managed. 



