BAST OF TIIR \ilssi-sii>H UTVEU. 



.\itnilirr of 



343 



In 1840 over 70 per cent of the nearly 4,000,000 sheep were Spanish and 

 Saxony Merinos and their grades, nearly 30 per cent were unimproved 

 natives, and the improved English breeds constituted less than 1 per 

 cent. In 1890 26 per cent were of Merinos and their grades, 12 per 

 cent were unimproved, and the English mutton breeds constituted 62 

 per cent. The change from the Merino to the English blood still con- 

 tinues and the unimproved sheep are disappearing. 



The progress of improvement in the fleece has been steady and mar- 

 velous. In 1840 the average weight of wool per head was 2.21 pounds; 

 in 1890 it was 5.63 pounds, an increase in fifty years of 155 per cent. 

 As much wool was grown on 1,220,704 sheep in 1890 as was grown on 

 3,126,995 sheep in 1840. The amount of wool for the census year from 

 1840 to 1890 follows in this table: 



Production of wool. 



A great part of Maine and the northern portions of New Hampshire, 

 Vermont, and New York, and the southern shore of Lake Erie, derived 

 their earliest mutton sheep from Canada, and that Dominion has contin- 

 ued to supply improved English breeds to the present day. 



The first sheep were taken into Canada by the French in 1665, and 

 subsequent importations were made from France. The descendants of 

 these French sheep are still to be seen in the province of Quebec, a 

 small but hardy race. The greater part of them show signs of the 

 Merino blood that was infused in Quebec flocks from 1816 to 1830, when 

 many of the best Merinos in Vermont and northern New York and even 

 Massachusetts were bought at a very low price and taken across the 

 border. Until the overthrow of the French power in Canada the French 

 families of sheep prevailed and even maintained their growth until the 



