158 CONKEY'S STOCK BOOK 



MADE IN We have in America today made in America the best sheep 

 AMERICA of its kind in all the world the American Merino. 



A LITTLE The sheep in America has back of it as long a history as the 

 HISTORY United States themselves; and back of that, 2000 years back, 

 if you will go that far, the painstaking care of kings, and 

 breeders wiser than kings. In fact, you can't go back so far in history 

 that you do not find man there with his sheep. They are the oldest of 

 domestic animals. Even primitive man found them useful. Among all 

 races we find them as an early standard of wealth. The sheep is the 

 "animal with the golden hoofs," the giver of the "golden fleece." It was 

 man's most precious early possession, and the highest thing he could offer 

 in sacrificial worship. 



Sheep were the first civilizers, by their very timidity helping to quell 

 the brute in savage human nature requiring to be led, not driven loving 

 the gentle shepherd and depending upon him wholly. 



This timid animal proved hardy by nature, however, and adapted itself 

 to suit man's changing conditions. In the absence of shelter it grew wool 

 for protection, which man could shear in mild season. If given little for 

 feed it fed itself, "rustling" on free range. If given plenty it turned that 

 plenty into juicy flesh to satisfy man's lusty hunger. Preferring a tem- 

 perate climate, it suited itself to the shepherd's nomadic nature and adapted 

 itself to every climate and every livable altitude. With the coming of 

 empires and civilized markets the shepherd's sheep kept pace, adapting 

 themselves to fill his various needs and luxuries. 



MUTTON Today then we have two great tendencies of sheep, two 



OR WOOL? great classes: the (1) mutton, and the (2) wool varieties. 



Moreover, every mutton breed produces also some 



valuable wool, and every wool breed some mutton. While tending, for 

 special excellence, one way or the other, the sheep is a practical sort of 

 creature and always results in a "dual-purpose." 



BREEDING Now the world has need of many and various kinds of 

 CAN DO IT wool. Sheep respond to every effort of the breeder and 

 today there is wool of a kind to suit every different demand 

 for manufacture. There are long-wooled breeds, there are medium-wooled 

 breeds and fine-wooled breeds, with every imaginable cross and mixture. 

 If manufacturers want any different kind, let them say so any day and in 

 a very few sheep generations the breeders will "deliver the goods" accord- 

 ing to order. 



So much for science and so much for the plastic nature of the sheep 

 in breeding. 



LONG-WOOLED Leicesters, Lincolns and Cotswolds are the chief of 

 BREEDS the long-wooled breeds. 



LEICESTERS The long-wooled breeds are the most varied, and have the 

 greatest average value. They are usually hornless, white- 

 faced animals, somewhat coarse in flesh and sluggish in movement. They 

 are mostly of English origin, where the breeder Bakewell did much good 

 work to develop them in the last half of the 18th century. Of the long- 

 wooled breeds the Leicesters were the first to show results from intelligent 

 breeding. They are still largely used for grading up flocks. Leicesters 



