308 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN TEXAS. 



of your State will soon demand. An enterprising population is poui-ing 

 in upon you from the other States of the Union, and from Europe. The 

 l>oy is now l)orn who will see, not only the good soils in all the counties 

 at ])resent organized in Texas, but in its regions where now roves the 

 wild Camanche, worth twenty or thirty dollars an acre. Then the sunny 

 but unarable slopes of the Alleghanies, in Virginia, the Caroliiias, etc., 

 may succL'SsfuUy compete with you in wool-growing, owing to their 

 greater cheapness. 



Pkopits of wool-growing. — Northern flock-masters usually estimate 

 the consumption of eight American Merino sheep equivalent to that of a 

 cow. All prime American Merino flojks should average as high as about 

 five pounds of washed wool per head, or seven and a-half pounds of an- 

 washed wool. Choice breeding flocks should do better still. To show 

 you that I speak from actual knowledge instead of conjecture, let me say 

 that I have two flocks of pure Spanish (American Merino) yearling ewes, 

 which averaged, this year, five pounds and six ounces of well-washed 

 wool per head — equivalent to eight pounds and one ounce unwashed ; 

 and the yearling never produces as much wool as the adult sheep. A 

 choice small flock of my gi'ovvn ewes averaged six pounds and a fraction 

 of washed wool per head, equivalent to nine pounds unwashed. In none 

 of these flocks were there any rams or wethers to increase the yield of 

 wool. None of them received any pampering, or were sheared at an 

 unusual time. I have cross-breeds between the French and Spanish 

 which averaged still higher; but they are larger, and will consuma more. 

 For many years my entire number of full-blood sheep of all ages, exceed- 

 ed five pounds of washed wool per head. 



The price of American Merino wool (washed) has been as follows, on 

 the first day of Av.gus^, in the yt\,rs indicated : — 



1851 42 to 44 cents. 



1852 40 to 43 " 

 ]85r 49 to 53 " 



1854 . 38 to 40 " 



1855 37 to 38 '• 



1856 44 to 4(\ " 



1857 45 to 48 «' 



1858 37 to 41 " 



1859 14 to 46 " 



Assuming five ounds '.o oe iht, weighi )f fleece, and eight ewe sheep 

 to by the equivalent of a cow in consumption, it follows that the feed of 

 a cow would have returt.ed this year eighteen dollars in wool, and as 

 many lambs as eight ewes would rais3, which would be at least seven. 

 What these S9ven"la:nbs would additionally be worth to the Texas grower, 

 I leave you to estimate. Even among common sheep, the lamb is always 

 considered to be worth as much as its dam's fleece. If rams and wethers 

 raise no lambs, they produce greatly more wool than ewes. Now say 

 what are the profits of a cow in Texas, and di'duct the difflM-ence in the 

 ..rouble of looking after her ard the eight sheep, and you have a compar- 

 ative view of the profits between the animals, which will prove instruc- 

 tive ! Do you obtain five dollars per head of net annual profits on cows, 

 en the average ? And yet you raise cattle on a scale which conveys the 

 idea that you find it as profitable as any other of your branclus of hu* 

 bandi-y on the pasture-lands of Texas. In my former letters to y^u I 



