332 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



In 1861 almost the entire sheep of the State were of the Merino 

 grades, the raising of mutton sheep being confined to good pasturage 

 laud, of which there was but little, and the growing of wool revived. 

 Many Atwood rams were purchased in Vermont and driven into the 

 State, and the yield of wool rapidly increased. 



There were some portions of the State where, despite fluctuations in 

 price, wool growing was always a profitable branch of farming. Those 

 who persevered made money, realizing much greater profits from sheep 

 husbandry than they could have done from any other kind of farming, 

 and by careful selection of rams and breeding ewes the weight of fleece 

 was doubled, the animal increased in size, and the wool improved in 

 quality. These cases were exceptional, and in 1866 wool growing 

 rapidly declined, the number of sheep falling from 310,534 in 1860 to 

 248,760 in 1870. In 1865 the number was estimated at 677,571. In 

 1871 a large number of the best flocks in the State had become extinct, 

 and in 1880 the sheep of all kinds had fallen to 211,825, yielding 1,060,589 

 pounds of wool, an average of 5 pounds per head. 



Near the Yermont line the Yermont style of breeding is carried on, 

 but in the Merrimack valley, with the drier plains and rocky ridges on 

 either side, a different course is pursued. Here during the period from 

 1861 to 1866 were bred such flocks as are now found in Merrimack 

 County, sheep of fair size, good form, and without wrinkles, such a sheep 

 as Mr. Abram Melvin, of Weare, bred through a lifetime without any per- 

 ceptible admixture of the wrinkly Yermont Merinos. At the present 

 time several breeders in Merrimack County are making efforts to pre- 

 serve this type of sheep, as those who continue to breed Merinos here 

 are aiming for a Delaine Merino with mutton qualities. There has been 

 Delaine blood lately introduced to the adjoining town of Warner from 

 both Pennsylvania and Maine. H. F. Pearson, of Webster, has made 

 a successful cross on the Melvin sheep by the use of a Dickinson Merino 

 ram purchased of H. G. McDowell, Canton, Ohio.* 



The Melvin flock here mentioned was bred for more than sixty-five 

 years, and was founded on Jarvis sheep. They were derived from the 

 first importations bred a few years near Boston by a Captain Perry, and 

 from this flock Phineas C. Butterfield procured sheep, took them into 

 New Hampshire, and established a flock there ; and from him Abram 

 Melvin procured the foundation of his flock. When Mr. Melvin found 

 a sheep to suit him he bought it, no matter what the price, and put it 

 in the flock, rejecting every shearing season all that were for any cause 

 unsatisfactory. His sheep were of dark color, long, fine wool, heavy 

 shearers, free from wrinkles, and of good size. 



* New Hampshire Agriculture, 1887. 



