580 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



as fine. As an average the fleece will weigh 8 pounds, while that of 

 the Southdown will not exceed 6 pounds. They are claimed as shearing 

 as much money per head as the wool breeds, so called, and every way 

 superior to them for mutton. They stand close herding in large num- 

 ber sj are quiet, very strong and heal thy; are exceptionally free from 

 foot-rot; require no extra feed and but little care, and upon the whole 

 will give large returns with the least trouble. They weigh from 170 to 

 300 pounds. One is on record as weighing 400 pounds. An Indiana 

 breeder reports one as weighing 328 pounds at two years old, and giv- 

 ing 18 pounds of medium, delaine, and half-combing wool. They have 

 been found very prolific, producing at least 40 per cent of twins. The 

 lambs are strong, are on their feet nearly as soon as dropped, and give 

 but little trouble. Many farmers are grading up their flocks by using 

 large, well-shaped, and woolly rams of this breed. Breeding-flocks 

 abound in the State to supply the demand, and the importation from 

 the best of English flocks is constant. 



Indiana is the home of the American Shropshire Association, and 

 here seems the proper place to note the origin and early history of this 

 breed of sheep so popular in the West, and, indeed, throughout the 

 Union wherever sheep husbandry receives attention. The Shropshire 

 is the direct result of the application of science in the hands of progres- 

 sive men, working continuously on natural laws for the improvement 

 of good breeds, and at times producing new ones of superior merit. 



The old sheep of Shropshire were of many breeds, but time and cir- 

 cumstances gave them a more equal character. Many of these breeds 

 have passed away; some of them yet remain, but in an improved con- 

 dition. These were originally horned and with black or mottled faces 

 and legs. They were about the size of the Southdown, but the neck 

 was longer and the carcass not so compact. They were hardy and 

 rarely had food given them in the winter, except in a deep snow. At 

 the beginning of this century the Shropshire sheep weighed from 14 to 

 16 pounds per quarter; the fleece of the wether about 2J pounds, but 

 that of the ewe not more than If pounds. They were sometimes 

 crossed by the Dorsets, by which the carcass was increased to 18 to 20 

 pounds the quarter and the fleece to 3 or 4 pounds, but the quality of 

 both was deteriorated. They were, however, thought to pay the 

 farmers better than the old breed. 



The common mountain sheep of Shropshire were smaller, being 

 scarcely more than 10 or 12 pounds to the quarter; but the wool was 

 finer, and sold at a somewhat higher price. 



The Long Mynd or Mound sheep were horned, with black faces, 

 weighing about 12 pounds the quarter, the wool being very little in- 

 ferior to that of the common mountain sheep.* Youatt says that the 

 sheep, however, which was the pride and boast of Shropshire, and 

 scarcely excelled in fineness of wool even by the Ilyelands^ was the 



* Youatt. 



