268 BREEDING AND CROSSING. 



mutton can be made quite as profitable as the cultivation of 

 wool only. In addition to the value of the carcase, the new 

 American enterprise for manufacturing the combing wool of 

 English sheep, has already materially advanced the value of 

 their fleeces, as good combing wools are now commanding 

 as high as thirty-seven cents per lb. ; and the average weight 

 of fleece of the long-wooled breeds may safely be estimated 

 at six lbs. 



The prejudice entertained against the British breeds by 

 American farmers originates in ignorance and mismanage- 

 ment. In many instances they have been abandoned and 

 unjustly condemned because they could not be supported on 

 the same amount of feed which is requisite for smaller breeds. 

 Now let the American breeder for one moment consider the 

 fact that the expenditure of food is in the ratio of the 

 size of the breed ; and if the same amount of flesh and fat 

 can be grown on three English sheep, that can on five or six 

 grade Saxons, or Merinos, pray why are not the three as 

 profitable as the six? The English breeds consume, we will 

 suppose, double the quantity of an equal number of the 

 ordinary American varieties, but when they are butchered 

 the proportion of valuable parts to the ofial is greatly the 

 largest, and the weight of carcase is occasionally three times 

 greater, and almost invariably more than double. All that it 

 is necessary to do in order to test the truth of these remarks, is, 

 to weigh accurately an equal number of English and Amer- 

 ican sheep, and also their daily rations till fit for the butcher. 

 This is the only way for every farmer to do, who doubts. 



The turnip system of feeding so universal in Great Britain 

 for fattening sheep should be resorted to in this country 

 wherever it is practicable, and conformity in all other respects 

 to English practice. This we should not despise and reject 

 simply because England is one thing and x\merica another. 

 English animals and agriculture are second to none in the 

 world ; and in whatever point we imitate these, when prac- 

 ticable, will result in the largest returns of profit. The fol- 

 lowing observations, by Mr. Spooner, are in keeping with 

 the above remarks : 



" The management and selection of any breed of sheep 

 must, after all, become a matter of pounds, shillings, and pence. 

 The question the farmer has to consider is, what description 

 of sheep will in the long run return the most profit ; and this 

 question must be viewed in relation to the management he 



