496 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



tion of a flock which was added to by subsequent purchases from his 

 brothers and others of choice Black-Top sheep. In breeding his sheep 

 it was the aim to produce a large, well formed animal, with a dense 

 fleece of long white wool, carrying the oil well to the surface and avoid- 

 ing the sacrifice of the natural fineness of fleece for any other point. 

 He especially endeavored to improve their feet, his constant aim in that 

 direction being to propagate a Merino sheep with feet equal to those of 

 the mutton breeds. Two noted stock rams of this flock were Success 

 and Walter. 



The flock of John Berry, purchased by his sons C. M. and John M. 

 Berry, April 1, 1867, contained about 265 head. These were kept to- 

 gether and bred as one flock, using only the rams from the original 

 purchase, or those bred from the original purchase, up to April 1, 1872, 

 when the flock was divided equally between the two brothers, C. M. 

 Berry taking his part to his farm in Strabane Township, while John M. 

 Berry retained his on the homestead farm. The course of breeding 

 followed by the two brothers was similar. They always reserved the 

 best sheep of both sexes for their own breeding, and never allowed 

 selections from their flocks. They avoided extremes on any one point, 

 aiming to propagate the sheep that would make the highest average on 

 all points. They believed that the most valuable sheep was the one 

 that would give the greatest return in dollars and cents in a given time 

 from both wool and mutton, and to this end they aimed to breed sheep 

 that would produce the greatest number of pounds of clean, fine delaine 

 wool on the largest and best mutton carcass. Each flock did the great- 

 est amount of breeding within itself, but close in-and-in breeding was 

 avoided by the use of rams bred in other pure-bred Black-Top flocks, 

 besides using rams at different times from each flock, one on the other. 

 The wool from these flocks grades very high, that of John M. Berry in 

 1884 marking 100 per cent fine delaine. 



The sheep from the original William Berry flock had a wide dissem- 

 ination in Washington County before their excellence was generally 

 recognized, but unfortunately many were crossed with inferior Vermont 

 and Saxon rams and their characteristic points eliminated. One of the 

 purchasers from Matthew Berry was Tappan W. Wylie, who in turn 

 sold some of his sheep to Thomas N. Ealston. In the early days of 

 wool-growing in Washington County John Ealston, who possessed a 

 large tract of land especially adapted to the business, began sheep rais- 

 ing, increasing his flocks from time to time until they numbered from 

 1,000 to 1,400. His first object was wool-growing, and his flocks were 

 composed of the best breeds of fine wool sheep, not confining himself to 

 any particular breed, but always striving for the best wool producers. 

 In 1860 his son, Thomas N. Ealston, assumed charge of the sheep, and 

 in 1866, desiring to improve and increase his flock, took a trip through 

 Washington County and was attracted by the peculiar, dark colored, 

 large sized sheep owned by Mr. Wylie. Upon examination of them 



