EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 375 



■1 to 5 pounds. Southdowns liad midtiplicd largely during the three 

 years preceding, and there were some Leicesters, but these were 

 deemed too tender for the winter storms and were crossed with the 

 more hardy Merino and Southdown. The tendency was for larger 

 sheep. Formerly wool-growers entertained the idea that to grow fine 

 wool they must keep small sheep, but they now began practicing on the 

 theory that by selecting from the best flocks the largest and finest 

 rams and ewes they could improve both the size of their sheep and the 

 quality of their wool. In Allegany County by 1854 the French Merino 

 had become a great favorite, and of these and the pure-bred Spanish 

 Merinos there were quite a number. Since the introduction of the 

 French Merino, in 1849, they had increased the weight of the fleece on 

 an average nearly or quite 2 pounds in the flocks where used. There 

 was, however, a growing interest in mutton sheep, for the improvement 

 of which the Southdowns were being introduced. Sheep were kept in 

 y)asture seven or eight months and the remainder of the year on hay or 

 straw. Good wool could be produced at less expense of keeping and 

 labor than poor, as the fleeces were heavier. The tendency in the 

 western counties was toward sheep for mutton and \-.-ool combined. 

 This tendency was still more marked in the eastern and northern 

 counties. In Delaware County wool-growing and raising lambs for 

 market returned the greatest profits, though the owner of a flue Merino 

 flock, which averaged 5 pounds of well-washed wool per head, could at 

 a cost of 25 to 30 cents put it on the market. In the extreme northern 

 counties of St. Lawrence, Franklin, and Clinton less attention was paid 

 to raising sheep than of cattle. There were a few flocks of full-blooded 

 Spanish Merinos which would not in any respect suffer by comparison 

 with the best flocks of Vermont, but the description most raised was a 

 grade of the Merino on the common or native sheep. For the purpose 

 of mutton, here a leading object, this grade answered a good purpose. 

 This section had Leicesters, Southdowns, and Cotswolds, mostly from 

 Canada, and were quite popular, but of the iiiutton sheep the large 

 natives were the most profitable for carcass and wool. Their flesh was 

 considered better and they took on tallow more readily. They were 

 more hardy and their increase could be relied on. One hundred hardy, 

 coarse- wooled ewes would raise 100 lambs when the Saxon would raise 

 25 and the Spanish Merino 50, each having equal care. The Saxon 

 sheared 2 J, the Spanish Merino 3J, and the coaser varieties 5 pounds of 



wool. 



The decade from 1850 to 1860 was noted for the substitution through- 

 out the State of coarse-wooled sheep for fine-wooled, the rapid elimina- 

 tion of the Saxon from the fine wooled flocks, and the spread of the 

 French Merinos in the western counties. The total number of all 

 kinds decreased from 3,453,241 in 1850 to 2,620,920 in 1860, a loss of 

 8;52,321 sheep and 616,828 pounds of wool. But the average yield of 

 wool per head increased from 2.91 to 3.60 pounds. 



