EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIYER. 653 



$20 to $25. Charles L. Day, of St. Croix County, keeps a flock of 

 about 175 Cotswolds, which, after trying many others, he finds the most 

 satisfactory. They are large, the fleeces average 11 pounds each, and 

 the lambs come rapidly into condition for market, and bring good 

 prices. They are fed on clover hay, with corn and oats alternately in 

 winter, and pastured in summer. He has warm, comfortable quarters 

 accessible from the pasture, in which the sheep and lambs can find 

 shelter from storms. They endure cold uninjured if kept dry. Charles 

 Bradley, of the same county, has Cotswolds whose fleeces averaged 12 

 pounds. 



The Lincolnshires are well known in the State and their chief recom- 

 mendation is their great size. J. W. Ganes gives the following weight 

 of some of his Lincolushires, March 17, 1890. 



Pounds. 

 Ewe dropped March 4, 1889, weighed March 17, 1890. . ............ . ........... 141 



Ewe dropped March 5, 1889, weighed March 17, 1890 .......................... 166 



E w<> dropped March 21, 1889, weighed March 17, 1890 ......................... 180 



Twin rains dropped March 13, 1889, weighed March 17, 1890 ................... H^ 



/ ICQ 



Twin ranis dropped March 12, 1889, weighed March 17, 1890 ................... H 



These were wintered on clover hay without grain. Mr. Ganes' half- 

 blood Lincolns were square built and heavy quartered, and besides 

 showing good mutton points were heavy shearers, forty high-grade ewes 

 yielding 312 pounds of washed wool. These ewes raised 44 lambs. 

 The Oxford Downs are represented by breeding flocks in the State and 

 the Oxford-Merino cross is found very satisfactory. Lambs of this 

 cross, less than a year old, will average from 110 to 120 pounds and sell in 

 the home market at $5.50 per hundred pounds. In locations where 

 there is a great demand for lambs the size and early maturity of the 

 Oxfords give it a preference. One of its prominent breeders considers 

 it the most hardy of the Downs, and yields him on an average 10 or 12 

 pounds of wool. He fed 200 in one pasture but would prefer less rather 

 than more. 



Recent sales of Oxfordshires have been made at high prices. A sale 

 of grade Oxford ewes (half to three-quarters bred), held on the farm of 

 the late H. Rhodes, of Sheboygau, in the midst of a strictly dairy dis- 

 trict where but very few sheep are kept, brought .$10.50 to $13.50 per 

 head, prices not unreasonably high considering that ewes of this class 

 produced in 1891 from $6 to $10 per head in wool and lambs. Another 



armer averaged $9 each as the produce of his grade Oxford ewes for 



L891. 

 The Hampshire Downs are beginning to show themselves in the State 



ind have been well received. There is one breeding flock that will 



iverage about 200 pounds, producing about 8 pounds of unwashed wool. 



Che progeny of rams crossed on grade Merino ewes average 125 to 135 



rounds at 12 months' old when fed for the market. 



