EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 451 



the Shropshires, whicli now take the lead. The ISTew Oxfordshires were 

 introduced about 1847 or 1848 from the importations of Mr. Eeybold, of 

 Delaware, and spread rapidly, and at about the same time some Lin- 

 colnshires made their appearance. In 1850 James N". Goldsborough, of 

 Talbot County, preserved the weights of 4 sheep, which are here given: 



Age and sex. 



Threeyear-old Oxfordshire ram. 



TearHng Lincolnshire rani 



Three-year-old Leicester ewe 



Three-year-old Leicester ewe- . . . 



The date of the Shropshires entrance on Maryland farms is uncer- 

 tain, but in 1860 Samuel Sutton, near the Eelay House, imported 1 ram 

 and 20 ewes, also 1 ram and 6 ewes of the Lincolnshire breed. Since 

 1885 the Maryland sheep have been gxeatly improved by the introduc- 

 tion of a number of high-priced Cotswold and Shropshires imported 

 from the best English flocks. These have taken the place in small 

 numbers of a large number of indifferent and common sheep. Wash- 

 ington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia are the markets, and some choice 

 early lambs find a ready sale at good prices in New York. Some Shrop- 

 shire lambs at 3 months old, weighing 60 to 70 pounds, have sold for 

 10 to 14 cents per pound live weight. There are times when mutton is 

 a drug in the market and wool sells discouragingly low. Then the intel- 

 ligent farmer cuUs his flock and improves it, and when the depression 

 passes away he finds himself the possessor of a better animal, yielding 

 more and better wool and of better flesh. He may not have as many 

 sheep, but he has better ones. 



There is no part of Maryland that would not support a prosperous 

 sheep husbandry, and there are parts of the State where its extension 

 would be a blessing. In western Maryland the rich grasses of the hill- 

 sides and the valleys gxow a superior mutton, and the farmer who 

 adopts the sheep as a factor in mixed husbandry finds his profit in it, 

 not only in the ready cash which comes from the early lamb and the 

 fall mutton, but in the increased fertility of his land. In most of the 

 State, and particularly in the southern portion, sheep require but little 

 shelter during the winter, except that afforded by open sheds. As a 

 matter of fact they get even less than that. Grain is seldom given 

 them. A farmer representing the average treatment in the country 

 lying adjacent to the District of Columbia gave during the winter no 

 grain, no hay, and no shelter, except what his tobacco-houses afforded, 

 and his sheep were fat and healthy, with well-grown fat lambs that 

 brought high prices in the Washington markets. The sheep had the 

 run all the time on timothy pasture and old clover fields, except when 

 the ground was frozen or covered with snow, when they had the choice 

 of corn fodder or straw. They sheared over 6 pounds of wool each. 

 The wool alone more than paid for the cost of keeping. 



