674 SHEEP INDUSTRY OP THE UNITED STATES 



improvement on the common sheep, and where wool- growing was still 

 the object the Ootswokl was found the most profitable and many flocks 

 were graded up, iiutil the whole middle section of the State was well 

 stocked with them. The first cross often trebled the weight of fleece, 

 and at the same time greatly increased the size and improved the form 

 of the native. While the Cotswolds were well adapted to middle 

 Tennessee, they were not so well fitted for the hot sun and somewhat 

 scant pastures of the southern and, western portions of the State. 

 Level pastures and a cool climate seem best to agree with them. 



The Southdovf us came into middle Tennessee about the same time as 

 the Cotswolds, and have now supplanted them in favor and are increas- 

 ing more rapidly than any other improved breed. One hundred ewes 

 of this breed will have 100 per cent of lambs, twins occurring as often 

 as barren ewes. Thoroughbred rams crossed on the common sheep 

 produced lambs worth from $1 to $1.50 more per head than lambs of 

 same age by a common ram. Next to the Merinos, the Southdowns can 

 best adapt themselves to any portion of the State, and " while they are 

 an upland sheep and will thrive to perfection on the table-lands, they 

 will do equally as well on the rich pastures of the middle and western 

 portions of the State, though in flocks of smaller size. They are grow- 

 ing more rapidly in popular favor South than either the Cotswolds or 

 Merinos." 



In a report upon sheep husbandry in Tennessee, published in 1880, 

 Prof. Killebrew said that the Southdown, the Cotswold, and the Merino 

 were the three most popular breeds in the State. They and their prod- 

 uce constituted at that time nine-tenths of the sheep in the State out- 

 side of the common natives or scrubs. 



There are yet a few descendants of the Leicester and some Shropshire Downs. The 

 former are fast disappearing, and the latter have not proved as profitable with ns as 

 they have in England, or even in some of the Northern States, although they have 

 been in the hands of skillful and experienced breeders to create a demand for them, 

 either to breed as thoroughbreds or to cross upon the common sheep. 



Since this was written the Shropshires have grown more in favor, and 

 other breeds also have been taken' into this section and many are well 

 represented. No one breed combines all the good qualities, hence many 

 crosses have been made, not only with all the improved English breeds, 

 but also with the natives, and the latter cross is found to be the most 

 profitable. 



The native sheep, as elsewhere stated, constitute nine-tenths of the 

 sheep of the State, yielding about '2 pounds of wool, and of mutton, 

 gross, about 60 pounds. It is upon these sheep, now nearly replaced 

 by high grades in this middle section of the State, as a basis that the 

 prosperous mutton industry rests, iuid the success is pointed to as a 

 guide to other parts of the State where the natives still hold the 

 ground : 



By using the native ewes of fair size, good shape and robust epnstitution as a base 



