EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



405 



knee, or more than a very little on the belly. The lowest yield of wool 

 sheared at the show was 15 per cent of the whole weight.* 



The shearing for 1874, .as reported by the State Association, gives 

 no fleece under 15 pounds. Nine are recorded, 5 rams and 4 ewes. The 

 rams' fleeces were 31 pounds 8 ounces, 26 pounds 2 ounces, two at 25 

 pounds 8 ounces, and one at 22 pounds. Two ewes gave 18 pounds 

 each, one 17, and one 15 pounds 8 ounces. 



At the Eochester fair in 1875, A. C. Bennett received the first pre- 

 mium for a 4-year-old ram weighing 1SOJ pounds and giving a fleece of 

 29 pounds. The second best was P. E. Pitt's ram, weighing 148 pounds 

 and yielding a fleece of 23 pounds 13 ounces. The best ewe was sheared 

 by P. and G. F. Martin. She was 2 years old, weighed 108 pounds^ 

 and gave a fleece of 17 pounds 3 ounces. There was shown, but not 

 entered for premium, a 10-year old ewe that gave 22 pounds of wool, 

 the growth of one year and five days. 



The shearing record of 1878 shows 10 rams yielding from 16 pounds 

 to 29 pounds 1 ounce, and 9 ewes from 17 pounds to 20 pounds 7J 

 ounces. The rams averaged 23 pounds 8J ounces, the ewes 18 pounds 

 2 ounces. In 1879 4 rams are on record as weighing 156J, 146J, 156, 

 and 176 pounds, and giving fleeces weighing, respectively, 27 pounds 1 

 ounce, 26 pounds 3 ounces, 27 pounds 8J ounces, and 27 pounds 6J 

 ounces. 



In 1879 the shearing of S. B. Lusk's Merino flock gave these results: 



The breeding flocks showed a constant and well-sustained improve, 

 ment, but the growing of fine wool steadily declined, and in 1880 New 

 York could not be called a wool-growing State, that is, there were but 

 few farmers who made the production of wool a specialty. And yet a 

 large amount of wool was produced annually, for the keeping of small 

 flocks was very general with all the farmers of the State. The 1,715,180 

 sheep kept in 1880 were almost entirely in small flocks, varying from 5 



* Report on the Fair. 



