404 SHEEP INDUSTKY OF THE UNITED STATES 



an average of 14^ pounds each. The heaviest ram's fleece was 24J 

 pounds, the heaviest ewe's fleece 18 pounds. Mr. Lusk was subse- 

 quently part owner of the ram Addison, bred in Vermont, and he was 

 used in his flock. This ram was of immense carcass and enormous pro- 

 portions, weighing in full fleece a trifle over 200 pounds; was a straight- 

 backed, level- topped sheep, broad in the shoulder, back, loin, and hips; 

 round in the rib and quite deep in carcass. His head was shapely, well 

 carried, and remarkably weU covered; nose and face short and broad, 

 well wrinkled, soft and velvety to the touch. His horns turned moder- 

 ately broad on top and denoted that he possessed a wonderful constitu- 

 tion. He carried a very even fleece with good length of staple, was 

 highly crimped, and for so long a fleece it was well set also. He was 

 remarkably well wooled on the legs and fairly so on the underside. Oil 

 slightly buff, abundant, and coated him well on the outside. He would 

 be classed as a smooth-carcassed sheep, with good neck, tail, and flank. 

 "Weight of fleece, 29f pounds ; length of staple, 3 inches ; length of fiber, 

 4^ inches. He was esteemed a good sire, and left some heavy shearing 

 stock, notably Hopeful and Genesee, whose fleeces were reported 37f 

 and 37 J pounds, respectively. This last fleece won the highest honors 

 at the Paris Exposition, a gold medal. Addison died at 13 years of age, 

 the property of S. B. Lusk, of Batavia, If. Y., and A. D. Taylor, Eomeo, 

 Mich.* 



In 1874 there was a State sheep show at Canandaigua. It had been 

 nine years since the last one of the kind, and the improvement made in 

 that time was remarkable, both in size of carcass and length and close- 

 ness of fleece. The increase of weight in the fleece was nearly all wool, 

 as the fleeces were less greasy on the average than in 1865. The wool 

 on the belly and legs had become as long and nearly as close and as 

 well crimped as on the shoulders. Breeders had made decided advances 

 in the direction of a larger bodied sheep, with fleece of greater weight 

 and uniformity, the latter without any increase, or with actual decrease, 

 in the greasy and gummy secretion which works out in the scouriug. 

 The flocks compared favorably in weight with the imported French 

 Merinos of 1846 to 1850, which had been banished from the State, but 

 which proved more successful in the Southwest and in California. At 

 the same time these fleeces were heavier in pure wool, and the sheep 

 were much more hardy. Another desirable change observed was that 

 the sheep held their fleeces full and perfect to old age. The ram Addi- 

 son, 8 years old, weighed 185 pounds, and was wooled to the hoof 

 and to the tip of the ears. Torrent, jr., 7 years old, was wooled all 

 over. He weighed on the scales 171 pounds and his fleece 26^ pounds. 

 He was used on 200 ewes in the fall of 1873. Yet to appearance these 

 rams were in their prime. Ten years before it would have been 

 a difiicult matter to find a ram of that age that had any wool below the 



* Kegister of the New York State American Merino Sheep Breeders' Association, 

 Tol. I. 



