604 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



the prize for the heaviest sheep. A pure-bred Oxford from Michigan 

 took second, with 308 pounds. 



The first mutton sheep introduced into Illinois was probably a grade 

 Leicester, by which is meant a sheep originally of Leicester blood but 

 deteriorated by admixture with the so-called common sheep of the coun- 

 try. Such sheep are yet to be seen in some parts of southern Illinois, 

 continuing on without improvement and apparently without deteriora- 

 tion. But in numbers they are decreasing. 



The Southdown s are the standard mutton sheep by which all other 

 mutton breeds are weighed, and they have always been held in high es- 

 teem. They are to be found in all the counties of northern and central 

 Illinois and in some portions of southern Illinois. In central Illinois, 

 particularly, where, in former years, the Merinos were supreme, the farm- 

 ers who depend upon the profits of mutton as well as wool find these 

 sheep profitable, and their lands and pasturage well adapted for their 

 maintenance. The growing demand for choice mutton in the cities leads 

 many farmers to use Southdown rams on their flocks, and the demand 

 for juicy Southdown lambs is rapidly increasing. One of the earliest 

 Southdown flocks of Illinois was formed in 1844, and began with one 

 ram and two ewes imported from England. They were landed at New 

 York and shipped thence by way of the lakes and canal to La Fayctte, 

 Ind., and from there hauled to Sangamon County, 111., in a light 2-mule 

 wagon, by George Pickrell, son of Jesse A. Pickrell, to whom they be- 

 longed. Mr. Pickrell used no other than pure Southdown rams on his 

 flock from that time until 1873, when the flock came into possession of 

 his son before mentioned, who has kept it pure, using only the best 

 rams to be obtained. 



Another valuable importation of Southdowns into the State was that 

 made by the Illinois Importing Company in 1857. This importation 

 consisted of 4 yearling rams, 1 ram lamb, and 8 yearling ewes, all from 

 the flocks of Jonas Webb. The 5 rams sold for $550 and the 8 ewes 

 for $560. A part of these were bought by J. N. Brown, and their 

 descendents are still found in some of the best Illinois flocks and in 

 those of other States. 



There were other importations, not direct from England but from the 

 eastern States, and the Southdown was being gradually extended 

 when the war of the rebellion commenced. An Illinois writer, speak- 

 ing of that period and of his State, says : 



The importation of wool was at an end for the time, and the American farmer 

 again went to wool-growing with greater earnestness than ever before. The reduc- 

 tion of the cotton crop in the South made the growing of wool all the more profit- 

 able. The effects of the war on the further improvement and dissemination of 

 mutton sheep, however, were the reverse. The importation of breeding sfock was 

 necessarily discontinued. The flocks already begun were more or less broken up. 

 * * * A public record of breeding stock had not yet been established, and pedi- 

 grees were not then as carefully kept as they have since been. After the war was 

 over the best of the scattered flocks soon began to show up again. The strong int'u- 



