362 SHEEP INDUSTRY OP THE UNITED STATES 



drawn from the flock to raise a little money, and the ewes which got 

 fat earliest in tlie fall, and which were the ones that ought to have 

 been kept for breeding, were turned off to the drover as though any- 

 thing that was alive would do to keep over to replenish the stock.* 



It was thought susceptible of demonstration that at least $5,000,000 

 were annually lost to the State by persevering in a breed of sheep which 

 had nothing to recommend it. With very few exceptions this was the 

 case in the other States, for they had none of the improved pure breeds 

 anywhere, although as shown in a preceding chapter some were known 

 in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as late as 1810 to 1815, and in 1820 

 Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey had a limited number of the 

 mixed Leicester, and E. K. Meade was raising good sheep in Virginia. 

 But in general, a farmer possessed of 100 acres would own — for it could 

 be scarce called keeping — ^from iiO to 50 mongrel sheep, with the wool off 

 half their backs ; but they would yield him as much wool as was wanted 

 for domestic uses, and they gave but little trouble, going into the neigh- 

 bor's field at pleasure during the summer, and running in the barn- 

 yard with the rest of the stock during the winter. As these sheep 

 lived on next to nothing they were owned as a mere convenience, sup- 

 posed to cost little or nothing to maintain, and were placed at the very 

 tail end of the economy of the farm. 



The collapse of the woolen manufacture from 1815 to 1820 still further 

 mixed the breeds of sheep. Wool being then of no consideration, 

 flocks were not kept distinct, and every existing mixed breed was 

 crossed and recrossed in every conceivable manner and with every con- 

 ceivable result, to the great degeneration of all, for while the Merino 

 cross improved the wool of the progeny it injured the mutton, if such 

 a thing were possible, with the most of them. It was charged that the 

 Merino injured the common sheep. But the Merino soon disappeared 

 from most farms, either by being slaughtered outright, sold for a song, 

 or gradually converted into a long-wooled sheep. In the vicinity of 

 large cities the latter course was occasionally pursued, and an instance 

 is cited. 



One of the early and successful breeders of the Merino was G. W. 

 Featherstonhaugh, of New York. He pursued the business with great 

 zeal until 1818, when, after taking into consideration everything con- 

 nected with their profits and those which they might yield ten years 

 hence, he came to the conclusion which he had been anticipating some 

 time, and parted with every Merino ram that he owned. The reasons, 

 however, which caused this determination were principally applicable 

 to those who, being favorably situated as to the best markets in the 

 State, looked to carcass as a great source of the profit to be derived 

 from sheep husbandry. The Merinos then having fallen in price to a 

 level with the common sheep of the country, theic was an end to every 

 expectation of that branch of profit which had induced most purchasers 



*MemoiiB of the Board of Agriculture of New York, 1821. 



