614 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



washed wool. Fifteen yearliugs, the result of this cross, gave from 5| 

 pounds to 8-fg pounds of washed wool, which sold at 42 cents per pound. 

 While the average yield per head of Merino wool-growing flocks was 

 about four pounds, many sheared much higher. These, however, were 

 choice flocks and mostly kept with the view of breeding from. In 1854 

 J. B. Collins, of Washtenaw County, from over 100 Spanish Merinos 

 sheared an average of 5 pounds 13 ounces each fine wool. In the same 

 year there was a shearing at Ann Arbor, and 6 rams showed this 

 result : 



Four-year old, with fleece ou, weighed 136 pounds, 8 ounces; fleece weighed 8 

 pounds 11 ounces. 



Four-year old, with fleece on, weighed 133 pounds; fleece weighed 9 pounds 8 

 ounces. 



Five-year old, with fleece on, weighed 139 pounds; fleece weighed 11 pounds 11 

 ounces. 



Three-year old, with fleece on, weighed 156 pounds ; fleece weighed 12 pounds 6 

 ounces, 



Three-year old, with fleece on, weighed 118 pounds; fleece weighed 13 ijounds 6 

 ounces. 



Four-year old Saxon, with fleece on, weighed 117 pounds ; fleece weiglied 6 pounds 

 1 ounce. 



In the following year Benjamin Perrine sheared a three-year old ram 

 of 13 pounds 5 ounces washed wool. These figures are modest com- 

 pared with the fleeces of the present day, but they may serve as a basis 

 for reference in that great improvement that carried fleeces up to 15, 

 to 20, to 25, to 30, and so on to 44 pounds 4 ounces, reached by Dia- 

 mond in 1884. The improvement during these thirty years was phe- 

 nomenal. 



There were many full-blooded flocks established between 1850 and 

 1855, but the record of them is defective. The Wood Brothers, of 

 Saline, and Philo Eich, of Salem, established flocks and brought many 

 sheep from Vermont. The Michigan Register admits none of these 

 earlier importations except a very few from well-known and established 

 flocks, one of the earliest flocks admitted being that of A. D. Taylor, of 

 Romeo, Macomb County, established between the years 1850 and 1855 

 by a purchase of some ewes and rams of Hiram L. Taft, West Bloom- 

 field, N. Y., and subsequent purchases were made from Mr. Taft of ewes 

 and rams. The Taft flock came through E. A. Avery from the flocks 

 of Stephen Atwood, of Connecticut, and Alfred Hull, of Vermont. This 

 is a noted flock, has a splendid record for what it has accomplished, 

 and it still exists. 



In 1856 S. A. Colby & Son, of Eomeo, established a flock by the 

 purchase of 3 ewes from Mr. Taylor, and used rams from the Taylor 

 flock. The flock still exists. In the same year Robert Garner, of White 

 Lake, bought a pure-bred flock of Vermont Spanish Merinos. In 1860 

 his flock of 116 sheared 726 pounds of wool, an average of 6i pounds 

 per head, all washed on the sheep's back. The fleece was of 11^ months 

 growth. 



