EAST OP THE MISSISSIPPI EIVER. 631 



by breeders of the Merino slieep towards the mutton type which have 

 been crowned with a fair degree of success, especially as to size, feed- 

 ing qualities, early maturity and mutton forms, and the indications 

 were promising that wethers could be produced equaling the South- 

 down in form, weighing 150 to 175 pounds at 2 years, covered with 

 fleeces 3J to 4J inches long, cleaning 8 pounds of wool. 



Looking to a Merino sheep of this kind, some breeders and farmers 

 have turned their attention to the Delaine sheep of eastern Ohio and 

 western Pennsylvania, and many of these have been introduced into 

 the State. There are others who look to the French Merinos, which 

 have the most enthusiastic admirers who are pushing the breed into 

 prominence from the long obscurity in which it has lain. 



When the French Merinos were introduced into the United States, 

 from 1840 to 1860, the rams, distributed mostly in Vermont, New York, 

 and Michigan, were used to cross on the Spanish Merino flocks to 

 increase the size, vigor, and constitution of the latter. 



So far as attaining the object desired it was entirely satisfactory, but, tTiongh 

 greatly increasing the bulk of fleece and enhancing the value of the product for the 

 manufacturer, it lessened the weight of fleece, especially on the short-wooled 

 Merinos, that were so abundantly supplied with yolk as to form a black crust on 

 the surface of the wool. A strife sprung up among some breeders to produce the 

 greatest possible weight of fleece in proportion to the weight ot carcass, regardless 

 of the proportion of scoured wool to the raw material. This not being the end 

 sought by the sheep-breeders in France, the different methods did not work in har- 

 mony. The breeders in France were steadily increasing the weight of carcass, bulk 

 of fleece, and length and fineness of fiber with the least possible weight in scouring, 

 while American breeders were seeking more the heaviest fleeces as the ultimate 

 object, the weight of the animal not receiving so much attention. During the war 

 of the rebellion — 1861 to 1863 — the price of wool rose to an extreme figure, and the 

 breeders for weight of fleece only seemed to have produced the sheep most in 

 demand, as buyers from first hands did not discriminate properly between the 

 varieties of the different qualities of wool. As a natural result nearly all of the 

 pure races of the French Merinos disappeared, as mutton was not considered an 

 important factor in the breeding of Merino sheep, either daring the war or the 

 decade following.* 



At one time there were many of the French Merinos in Michigan, but 

 they generally disappeared when fashion set her stamp of approval on 

 the Vermont type of the Spanish Merino. -Among the purchasers from 

 Mr. John D. Patterson, of JSTew York, who was an extensive importer 

 and breeder of them, was Mr. Stanton, of Oxford, Michigan, who kept 

 his purchase absolutely pure. At Mr. Stanton's death the stock was pur- 

 chased from the estate by Mr. S. Cooley, an enterprising and highly edu- 

 cated gentleman of Oakland County, who bred them with great care and 

 selection and made a marked improvement in them. Hon. Henry Grin- 

 nell, of Oakland County, when traveling in France had his attention 

 drawn to these sheep, and his admiration for them was formed by vis- 

 iting the immense flocks of Australia, that were built up by crossing 



* American Eambouillet Eecord. 



