EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 629 



While theso small sheep had done well enough in the small flocks of 

 Michigan, where they were housed and well cared for, whenever they 

 were used in the large flocks of the West, they almost invariably proved 

 " a miserable failure, their heavy necks and fleeces preventing them 

 from keeping up with the flock when turned on the range to graze, and 

 rendering it almost impossible for them to do service; consequently 

 they have failed to give satisfaction to their purchasers, who do not 

 care to buy the same style of sheep again at any price." 



The conclusion at which Mr. Wood arrived was that while the wrinkly, 

 heavy sheep which the Michigan breeders had been growing for ten years 

 and more, had undeniably added many pounds to the annual wool clip 

 of the State, they had done almost nothing toward improving the 

 sheep as far as mutton was concerned. In the raising of sheep it must 

 be admitted that those sheep are most profitable that give the greatest 

 amount of wool and mutton combined, not wool alone, for in those large 

 wool-growing States evidently the best markets for the Michigan Merino 

 mutton was quite as important a consideration as the wool, and as the 

 price of wool declined the price of mutton had advanced. From the 

 experience of recent years it was apparent that the Michigan breeders 

 would be compelled, like the breeders of Vermont, to look to the West 

 for a market for their surplus stock instead of depending upon their 

 own State for a market. It was certain that for many reasons they 

 could not compete with the West in raising sheep simply for wool and 

 mutton, and as the State grew older and the cities larger the demand 

 for dairy and garden products at good prices would call for the use of 

 a considerable portion of the land devoted to sheep husbandry, and 

 there would be a necessity for finding a market for Michigan sheep in 

 those States where the raising of wool and muttom would always be 

 one of the main industries. This had already been realized to a certain 

 extent, but it is only within recent years that the best breeders have 

 been obliged to sell their rams to the dealers of the West and South- 

 west. Many look upon this business as already overdone, and an emi- 

 nent breeder said, in 1886, that even in the West the Merino ram trade 

 was " played out." Every man breeding Merino sheep saved all his 

 rains to sell, to go West, until the United States was running over with 

 them and they were almost worthless, and could be bought by the hun- 

 dred thousand for $1.50 each. Nearly every breeder had from 10 to 

 100 to sell for about half as much as wethers were worth. 



Under these circumstances it seemed clear to the leading breeders of 

 Merino sheep that, as they were compelled or would be compelled to 

 rely upon a market where wool and mutton combined shaped the indus- 

 try, it was the best policy to breed for that market, and that it was 

 advisable in selecting breeding stock, both sires and dams, to choose 

 only those that were large and strong, with a vigorous constitution, 

 and to discard from the flocks those little, greasy, wrinkly ewes and 

 rams for the produce of which they could find no market. 



