144 MODEKN SHEEP: BKEEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



date with the English Leicester cross. By the various breeders 

 getting their foundation years ago from three distinct breeds of 

 Longwools, i. e., the Lincoln, English Leicester and Komney, it is 

 only natural that a slight diversity of type should exist and it is 

 still open to. question whether the true one aimed at is even as 

 yet properly fixed. The New Zealand Sheep Breeders' Associa- 

 tion, for some unexpected reason, has not adopted a scale of 

 points. In general appearance of the Corriedale there is little to 

 choose, but there is still a noticeable difference in the character of 

 the wool, some flocks .being finer in fleece than others. A yearling 

 will on an average clip fourteen pounds. For record entry sheep 

 have to be described as whether from a Lincoln, Romney or Eng T 

 lish Leicester strain. A two-tooth Corriedale wether, dressed, will 

 average fifty-eight pounds, and Corriedale rams are much sought 

 after and used for crossing to get freezers. Corriedale sheep 

 during the past few years have been exported to South America, 

 Argentine, the Malay 'Peninsula and Australia/' 



FINE WOOL BREEDS, 



THE AMERICAN MERINO. 



To Mr. Roscoe Wood, of Michigan, the well-known authority 

 on fine wools, I am indebted for the following on this breed, also 

 for the able contribution on the Rambouillet in this work : 



Any history of the development and improvement of Merino 

 sheep in the United States is necessarily one of the entire sheep in- 

 dustry and many of the industrial conditions and influences that 

 affect the latter. It is a wonderful story, as truly marvelous as 

 any of the other great developments that this country has produced 

 in the last century. Merino sheep have probably reached as dizzy 

 heights of price and descended to the extreme of nothing in as 

 short time as any known commodity; from five thousand dollars per 

 head to one dollar represents the fluctuations of their value. All in 

 all it is a story whose completeness an entire volume could hardly 

 contain, and which is worthy of any man's time and attention. So 

 that to treat so much in the small space at our disposal precludes 

 anything but the barest and most essential facts, and the briefest 

 description of general tendencies. 



Of the importations from Spain and those who made them 

 there are many accounts. Suffice it to say here that Colonel 

 Humphreys, of Connecticut, made the first of any note in 1802, 

 and that Consul Jarvis, of Vermont, made the largest and most 

 important, in the years 1809-1811, and that since then no Merinos 

 have been imported from Spain. At the time of their introduction 

 fabulous prices were paid for many individuals, rams selling at 



