548 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



access to sheds, but they were just as apt to select the highest knoll of 

 a cold night as any other place. He thought there were no hardier 

 sheep — no sheep better adapted to the climate where the thermometer 

 gets down as low as 25 degrees below zero and up to 100 degrees in 

 the shade nearly every year. He had not so much trouble in yeaning 

 time as some of his neighbors who raised Spanish or American Merinos. 

 A portion of Henry D. Grove's l^Tew York flock was taken to Medina in 

 1837. 



The few flocks here mentioned indicate only the wide distribution of 

 the Saxon; to enumerate more would be superfluous. From 1835 to 

 1845 they overran the State and became the predominant sheep, and 

 they held their position for many years, and flocks were still formed as 

 late as 1860. Prom 1845 to 1850 a reaction set in and breeders and 

 wool-growers crossed with the Spanish and the French Merino. The 

 Saxons had reduced the fleece of most flocks to 3 and SJ pounds, fine 

 wool it is true, but the difference in price did not compensate for the 

 loss of weight. The French Merino was imported into the United 

 States as early as 1840, and shortly after some specimens found their 

 way into Ohio, and there was a great rush to cross these large, heavy- 

 fleeced sheep on the smaller Saxon to increase the wool. These crosses 

 were common all over the State as soon as fall-blooded French Merinos 

 or high grades could be obtained. Consequently, several varieties of 

 Merinos were known ; the French and Saxon cross, French and Spanish 

 cross, Saxon and Spanish cross, and everything intermediate and of 

 every conceivable grade. The French Merino was also crossed on the 

 common sheep, and the result was thought by some to produce the 

 most profit. They had little or no foot-rot, gave a medium grade of 

 wool, with heavy fleece, say from 5 to 8 pounds, and were excellent for 

 fattening. The wool was not quite as fine as the full-blood French or 

 Spanish, but for domestic use it was better, and the sheep were very 

 hardy and stood the winter better than the common sheep. 



The French cross on the Pennsylvania Black-Top Merino was very 

 successful, and the few flocks where it was carefully pursued showed 

 some fine sheep and excellent wool, and the wool was preferred by pur- 

 chasers because it showed less shrinkage. It was found, however, that 

 the Spanish Merino was, upon the whole, superior to the French, and 

 the latter was soon abandoned. For a while the Silesians met with 

 some encouragement, but they, too, were found inferior to the Spanish 

 Merino, 



William H. Ladd, of Jefferson County, imported some pure-bred Si- 

 lesians or Infantado-Negretti in 1854, which he disposed of but sparingly 

 at $250 to $300 each. In 1865 he sold the original importation and 

 their descendants, and a few crosses with other families of Spanish 

 sheep. The ewes averagetl $100 each. 



In 1870 there was a general feeling that for fine wool-growing pur- 

 poses there was no animal that excelled the Spanish Merino and its 

 outcome, thp American ]\[erino; and from that time they have been tUe 



