22 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA. 



hard winters on sparse allowance of food is 

 not a qualification worth, taking into account. 



MEEINO SHEEP. 



Probably the oldest races of domesticated 

 sheep are the various families of Merinos. 

 Most they have felt the moulding hand of 

 man, most they seem to diverge from any 

 wild type of which we have knowledge. Very 

 likely Merinos were kept in Palestine during 

 bible times and it may be that King David 

 when a lad watched beside a flock of Merinos. 

 Under the hand of man they have suffered 

 a degeneration in form, not now being as 

 hardy, as vigorous or full of stamina as any 

 wild race of sheep now in existence. What 

 they have lost in form and vigor they have 

 gained in fleece. The wool of the Merino is 

 the finest and for many purposes easily the 

 best in the world. It should command the 

 highest price and usually does. Merino breed- 

 ers in the Eastern states, however, must com- 

 pete with producers of wool in remote and 

 semi-savage lands, Australia, Argentina, Pata^- 

 gonia, the Falkland Islands and parts of our, 

 own great West. 



Breeders of Merino sheep have followed 

 many fashions and some that were their un- 

 doing. At one time the aim was to secure a 

 fleece of extreme fineness, though by this means 

 was secured a sheep of little stamina and of 

 small value for mutton production. Again the 

 aim sought was an excessive amount of oil 

 or "yolk" in the fleece, which made it heavier. 



