458 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



bedding of slaves, than to be dependent for them on England or 

 Massachusetts. 



In the tidewater counties Mr. Eandall recommended the mutton sheep 

 as best adapted to the system of farming carried on, and as the most 

 profitable, but on poor lands westward and the hilly regions he sug- 

 gested the Merino, producing wool ranging from good medium upward. 

 As to the question, which variety of the Merino, the Saxon or the Span- 

 ish, he entered into an explanation and comparison of their respective 

 merit and adaptability. He knew by experience that once interbreeding 

 between an ewe bearing good, medium wool, the fleece weighing, say, 

 from 4J to 5 pounds, with a Merino ram of sufficient high quality, would 

 produce wool in the offspring equaling ordinary Saxon, and a fleece 

 averaging 4 pounds, with more of its weight made up of gum. The 

 result of two such interbreedings would bring the progeny of a heavy- 

 fleeced medium ewe, provided the fleece be properly even, to the same 

 point. The 4-pound, fine-fleeced Spanish Merino would be a far more 

 profitable animal than the Saxon, other things being equal. But other 

 things were not equal. The Spanish was in every way a hardier animal 

 and a better nurse. It was about 20 pounds heavier, and therefore con- 

 sumed more feed, but this additional expense was more than counter- 

 balanced by the additional care and risk attending the husbandry of the 

 Saxon. It was practicable to increase the Saxon's fleece to 4 pounds, 

 but it would be at the expense of its fineness, and there was an addi- 

 tional objection to this system of breeding, so far as the Saxon was 

 concerned. The breeder was not only called upon to increase the weight 

 of its fleece and carcass, but to engraft on it hardiness of constitution, 

 nursing properties, etc., which by no means followed, as a matter of 

 course, its improvement in other particulars. These, and particularly 

 the latter, could only be attained so as to be transmissible with a proper 

 degree of certainty from parents to offspring by years of breeding, accom- 

 panied by a vigorous course of selection. He concluded, therefore, that 

 if called upon to form a variety just suited to the wants of the South the 

 Spanish Merino would present the most ductile and the safest materials. 

 But the Southern agriculturist, just entering upon sheep-rearing, would 

 not be prepared to conduct nice experiments in breeding. He wanted 

 a breed, a variety, already prepared to hand, a hardy breed, one that 

 demanded no extra skill, no great experience for its management. 

 Spanish Merinos reaching or closely approaching the standard were to 

 be found, while there were no corresponding varieties of Saxons; and 

 to incur the risks arising from inexperience, want of preparation, and 

 other minor reasons, the superior hardiness of the Spanish Merinos 

 would render them entirely preferable. Some had recommended a cross 

 between the Saxons and Spanish Merinos as a cheap and ready method 

 of obtaining a 4-pound fine-fleeced sheep. 



A properly selected Saxon rain, crossed with good medium and me- 

 dium-wooled Spanish ewes, cutting from 5 to 5J pounds of wool, would 



