CHAPTER XIX 

 BREEDING FOR THE MARKET 



In Colonial times, sheep were all of the coarse-wool type, brought 

 with the settlers from England and Holland. They were the unim- 

 proved original stock from which the present English breeds have 

 sprung. Later, George Washington and other leading agriculturists 

 of the time introduced sheep representing the early breeding improve- 

 ment in Europe. After the organization of the national government 

 the Merinos made their appearance. In 1860 the Merino was the out- 

 standing feature among American sheep. In 1870 more than four- 

 fifths of American sheep were Merinos or their grades. There were a 

 few middle-wooled sheep and a very few flocks of the long-wooled 

 breeds in the middle states and in the Ohio valley. The old coarse 

 wools were scattered through the South. Kentucky had the largest 

 number of long wools. Importations were made from England and 

 Canada. In Texas and New Mexico were Mexican sheep of Spanish 

 origin that had degenerated and almost reverted to the wild type. 

 Their fleeces were coarse and hairy and weighed only one or two 

 pounds. 



When the first exports of beef were made to England, about 1875, 

 the "Scotsman," a Scottish newspaper, sent James Macdonald to 

 America to investigate the American live-stock industry and render 

 a complete report. The results of this investigation were published by 

 Mr. Macdonald in 1878 in a book entitled, "Food From the Far West." 

 His remarks upon the state of the sheep industry in theUnited States 

 at that time were as follows: 



"No one in political or agricultural circles, or elsewhere, seems so 

 confident of the export of mutton becoming or continuing so extensive 

 or so profitable as that of beef. Mutton is not considered an important 

 article of food in America, and the feeding of sheep has received but 

 very little attention from its farmers. Sheep farming is certainly 

 carried on very extensively all over America, especially in the western 

 states of the Union and on the Pacific slopes; but, with a few exceptions 

 in the older and eastern states, the sheep-farmer's whole harvest is his 

 "clip" of wool. There is no demand for mutton, and therefore he pre- 

 pares none. He keeps a class of sheep specially adapted for producing 

 wool, and allo>vs his old sheep to die away naturally, or go where they 

 may^hat is, if he cannot dispose of them, even for a mere trifle, before 

 they reach the ripe old age of eight or nine years." 



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