260 



AGRICULTURE 



wool. The sale of a thousand dollars' worth of corn takes about 

 three hundred dollars' worth of fertility from the land, the sale of 



, an equal value of mutton 



takes about fifty dollars from 

 the land, and of wool only 

 three or four dollars. 



Breeds. While all breeds 

 furnish both wool and mut- 

 ton, sheep are usually divided 

 into wool breeds and mutton 

 breeds, according to their 

 chief purpose. 



Wool Breed. The best- 



MERINO SHEEP A WOOL TYPE 

 Grand champion of St. Louis World's Fair, 1904. 



known wool breed is the Me- 

 rino sheep. It is a native of Spain, is hardy, well adapted to warm 

 climates, and is the only 

 breed which is not subject to 

 disease when kept in large 

 flocks. The flocks of the 

 southwestern states are de- 

 scended from them. More 

 than half the sheep of the 

 United States are raised in 

 the section west of the one 

 hundredth meridian, known 

 as 'the Range,' where they 

 flourish on native grasses. 



LEICESTER SHEEP A MUTTON TYPE 

 Grand champion of St. Louis World's Fair, 1904 ; 



Mutton Breeds. The 

 sheep raised in the eastern weight, 420 ib. ; fleece record, 26 ib. 



states are chiefly English mutton breeds. The most hardy and 

 prolific of these and the most popular in the United States are 



