680 



SHEEP INDUSTRY OP THE UNITED STATES 



that govern the State realize the fact that its fertile lands will not re- 

 main fertile forever under a system of agriculture that is exhausting 

 them year by year, and that as a conservator of fertility and a reno- 

 vator the sheep has no equal. There is hope in the thought that many 

 now realize these facts and begin to agitate and discuss them. It is a 

 question of some care in a few localities, and a degree of considerate 

 forbearance of the dog in others. 



Sheep and wool in Tennessee, 1840 to 1S90. 



Of this nearly 1,200,000 pounds of wool only 20 per cent is graded as 

 medium clothing wool, the remaining 80 per cent being graded as below 

 medium, or a very low clothing wool or carpet wool. There does not 

 appear to be a very great competition in raising carpet wool in Tennes- 

 see and probably never will be, though some economists suggest it and 

 have considerately made calculations of the amount needed for Ameri- 

 can consumption and designated where it might be grown south and 

 west of Ohio. 



MISSISSIPPI. 



The sheep of Mississippi are almost entirely scrubs, and are of two 

 kinds, those of English origin, common in the northern part of the 

 State and descended from the sheep brought in by the early settlers 

 from Tennessee, Virginia, and South Carolina, and the "piney woods' 7 

 sheep, supposed to be descendants from the Spanish sheep of Florida 

 and the Mobile district. These two varieties of the scrub divide the 

 State; the English scrub and some slight improvements on it prevail- 

 ing in the northern and central parts, and the piney-woods sheep hold- 

 ing almost undisputed possession of the southern part. Together they 

 constitute nine-tenths of the sheep of the State. The first improve- 

 ment in the sheep of the State was made by the introduction of the 

 Spanish Merino. 



The first full-blooded Spanish Merino known to have been taken into 

 Mississippi was a Livingston ram by Gen. James Wilkinson, in 1811 or 

 1812. This ram is reported as shearing 13 pounds of clean unwashed 

 wool. From this ram and a selection of the best common ewes in the 

 country many fine flocks were formed, and, with the possible exception 

 of Don Pedro, this one animal did more to improve the sheep than any 

 other one rani in the United States at that time. Many flocks traced 



