WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 899 



an open stretch of prairie. The soil is uniformly of a sandy loam. 

 The pastures consist of native prairie grasses, with occasional fields of 

 tame varieties. The native grasses grow in abundance, both on the 

 open prairie and in the timber. The open prairie is smaller in area 

 than the timber pastures, especially in Hopkins County, which is the 

 representative sheep raising county of northeast Texas. The timber 

 consists principally of oak, ash, elm, and hackberry. The water sup- 

 ply for stock is mainly from creeks or pools during the grazing season. 

 Excepting in very dry summer, surface water is abundant and acces- 

 sible for watering stock, and wells are used very little for this purpose. 



Improved sheep brought in from other States seem to acclimate quite 

 readily and give satisfactory results for breeding purposes. The im- 

 proved sheep that are now brought in consist generally of pure-bred 

 Shropshire, Cotswold, Southdown, or Merino rams. These, with the 

 best selected grade rams of their own raising, constitute the stock rams 

 used by most of the sheepmen in this section. There are too few pure- 

 bred rams in use. 



The common method of allowing the flocks to run at will without a 

 shepherd attendant accounts for too large a loss of sheep from dogs 

 and exposure. The loss from dogs alone ranges from 5 to 20 per cent, as 

 shown by a number of reports received from there, while the loss from 

 wolves is small in comparison. The loss from exposure ranges from 5 

 to 10 per cent, and usually occurs during the lambing season or an oc- 

 casional storm. Experienced sheepmen have, however, provided shel- 

 ter for winter, which consists of sheds closed on the north and open to 

 the south, with boards or brush and straw to cover them. These afford 

 ample protection from cold rains and severe winter weather. 



Owing to the small size of the flocks, the rams, wethers, and ewes are 

 permitted to run together the entire season, while in large flocks farther 

 west, in the open range country, the ram is not permitted to remain 

 with the flock much over thirty days, and the ewe and wether flocks 

 are usually run separately. Here each ram is given from forty to fifty 

 ewes, and runs with them and the rest of the flock all the time. Only 

 about 5 per cent of the ewes fail to breed and drop lambs, although in 

 some cases as many as 10 per cent fail to breed. Sixty per cent is the 

 minimum number of lambs raised, while the average is about 80 per 

 cent, as summarized from reports received from representative sheep- 

 men. The grazing lands here are owned by sheepmen. There is 

 no free range excepting some unfenced land owned by nonresidents, 

 which is used in common by the stockmen during the grazing season. 



The custom has been to shear most of the flocks twice each year in 

 the spring months, April and May, and in the autumn months, Sep- 

 tember and October. Owing to the expense of shearing twice, the 

 number shorn in the fall is growing less from year to year. The aver- 

 age annual clip is about 5 to G pounds per animal. The bulk of the 

 wool is a bright medium or a medium fine. The net price realized by 



