90 THE SHEPHERD'S MAHUAL. 



native sheep of Spain, designated by Dr. L. T. Fitzinger, the 

 author of a paper upon the races of domestic sheep of Europe, 

 (presented to the Imperial Academy of Science in Vienna, in 1860), 

 as the landschaf, or common rustic sheep, (Ovis aries). This sheep 

 bore a very meager fleece of coarse wool. It is probable that all 

 that part of the American continent which became subject to its 

 Spanish discoverers, including the islands of the West Indies, was 

 stocked with this common race. At that period the Spanish gov- 

 ernment very jealously guarded the Merino sheep, and forbade 

 their exportation, even to their own American colonies. It is 

 known, however, that a few Merinos were occasionally smuggled 

 into Peru, and that to these was due the superior character of the 

 wool of that country, which exists up to the present century. 

 Elsewhere, however, the character of the dominant race of sheep 

 was very inferior, and it now so remains; the imports of wool 

 from South America into the United States being coarse in quality, 

 and rating only as among the third class. Of a similar character 

 to this is the race of sheep known in our western territories as 

 "Mexican." Their origin is clearly the same as that of the native 

 South American sheep, and their appearance is identical with that 

 of the sheep represented in ancient Spanish paintings as the ordi- 

 nary race of the country, the property of the peasantry. It may 

 be concluded as most probable, if not certain, that this race, one 

 of the ten primitive or distinct original races which inhabited Eu- 

 rope, as determined by Dr. Fitzinger, (whose classification is con- 

 firmed by other scientific men), unaltered by more than three 

 centuries of acclimatization, is now represented by the bulk of the 

 flocks which roam over Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, 

 parts of California, and more recently Colorado. These sheep are 

 hardy, wiry animals, weighing about 40 pounds, and yielding when 

 unmixed with any Merino blood, a fleece of about two pounds of 

 coarse wool. Of late this inferior race has been improved to 

 some extent by crossing with pure Merinos from Vermont and 

 other eastern states, and is found to make an excellent basis 

 whereon to build up an improved and useful race. These sheep 

 are of but little value, and in flocks are sold and bought at about 

 $1.50 per head. The business of shipping rams westward to sup- 

 ply this demand, from almost every state where Merinos are kept, 

 has already re?ched respectable dimensions, and is rapidly increas- 

 ing. The result cannot fail to build up, in course of time, a valua- 

 ble class of native sheep well suited to these localities. These 

 improved sheep produce a fleece weighing about 4 pounds of grade 

 Merino wool, which will supply to a very great extent local manu- 



