EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI EIVEE. 



445 



Time adds to the popularity of these sheep, and they are now widely 

 distributed. Careful breeding has given themmore uniformity of char- 

 acter, and as producers of good quality and heavy weight of mutton 

 and wool at an early age it is difftcult to equal them. They have found 

 their way into nearly every part of the world, in every state or kingdom 

 of Europe, into South Africa, Australia, South America, Canada, and 

 the United States. 



As has been stated, the ISTew Oxford sheep or Cotswold cross-bred, 

 then called, was introduced into the United States in 1846 by Clayton 

 Eeybold, of Delaware, and at his annual shearing at Delaware City, 

 Del., May, 1846, two animals were shown : 



N"umber 1 was 3 feet across the back; 5 feet from nose to rump; 7 

 feet 4 inches in circumference; weighed 320 pounds (live weight), and 

 gave 13 pounds well washed wool. 



liTumber 2 was 2 feet 2 inches across the back ; 5 feet 2 inches from 

 nose to rump ; 7 feet in circumference; weighed 272 pounds (live weight), 

 and gave 17 pounds well washed wool. 



A 2-year old Oxfordshire sheep was sold in Maryland in 1848 for $80, 

 which was considered a very low price. We are told that the first im- 

 portations of the new sheep were not appreciated. In 1853 William C. 

 Eives, then in England, sent home to Virginia one ram and five ewes 

 of the breed, which were the first taken into Virginia. About the same 

 time E. S. Pay introduced them into Massachusetts, from the same flock 

 from which Mr. Eives made his purchase. They are now well known 

 and numerous in the United States. The American Oxford Down 

 Eecord Association has adopted the following scale of points : 



In 1853, Mr. C. Eeybold was, perhaps, the largest sheep raiser in the 

 State, at which time he made a statement that he imported regularly, 

 every two years, 2 rams and 6 or more ewes of the New Oxfordshire 

 sheep, and that he then had some 80 very superior full-blood ewes. He 

 found universally that a cross with the common western sheep, which 

 were generally one-half or one-fourth blood Merinos, would add 100 per 

 cent both to wool and carcass, and the wool commanded about the same 

 price as half-blood Merino wool. His imported Oxfordshires, or rather 

 the progeny, gave for rams and wethers 15 to 18 pounds of wool, and 

 for ewes 10 to 12 pounds, well washed. Full-blood rams sold for $50 to 

 $100 and ewes $25 to $40. Thousands of common and grade Merino 



