92 THE SHEPHERD^ MANUAL. 



breeding were used. In 1867 Mr. Scott furnished an account of 

 his slieep for the annual report of the Department of Agriculture 

 for 1866, in which he gave some very flattering testimonials which 

 he had received from various parties, to whom he had sold his 

 sheep, with pictures of rams and ewes of his flock. At that tune 

 his flock consisted of about 200 ewes and 50 yearling rams. Since 

 then the breed has been quietly working its way into favor in Ken- 

 tucky and the Southern States, and has gained many friends. Ita 

 character has been gradually fixed by careful breeding by Mr. 

 Scott, and it is now a heavy-bodied long-wool sheep, which pro- 

 duces a heavy fleece, good mutton, and a heavy market lamb. 

 The fleece consists of a long lustrous combing wool, in quality 

 midway between the Leicester and the Cotswold. Some skins, and 

 rugs made from the cured skins, were exhibited at the Centennial, 

 ,ncl received a prize for their excellence. In a private letter to 

 Jie author, Mr. Scott states that his sheep have been received with 

 so much favor, and have become so popular, that it is with diffi- 

 culty that he can keep up the working numbers of his flock. This 

 example of successful cross-breeding is an instance of what a 

 careful and skilful breeder may accomplish, rather than a result to 

 be confidently hoped for by any tyro in the art, or any person who 

 may have an ambition to found a new or improved breed of sheep. 



THE AMERICAN MERINO. One of the most successful instances 

 of the fortuitous results of sheep breeding, exists in the establish- 

 ment of the American Merino. In a Treatise upon the Australian 

 Merino, by J. R. Graham, superintendent of an extensive sheep 

 station on the Murray River, (published in Melbourne, in 1870), 

 the following testimony is given : " Of all imported sheep, those 

 of our first cousins, the Americans, are the best. The best rams 

 imported into Melbourne of late years were some American rams." 

 This coming from so capable a judge, and in competition with the 

 best selections of Merino sheep to be procured elsewhere in the 

 world, may be taken without question as proof that the American 

 Merino is the best sheep of its class in the world. It is therefore 

 interesting to trace the course through which this breed has been 

 brought to its present excellence, which enables it to stand alone 

 on its own merits, beyond any capability of further improvement 

 by any variety of Merino sheep now existing hi any part of the 

 world. 



The history of the American Merino commences with the 

 present century, and with importations of choice sheep from 

 Spain. The honor of the first importation seems to belong to Mr. 

 William Foster, of Boston, who managed, ** with much difficult/ 



