692 SHEEP INDUSTEY OF THE UNITED STATES 



the original introduction. Tradition says that they were found among the Indians 

 at the early settling of the country, and that the Indians had considerable flocks of 

 sheep which they looked after for their flesh and for their skins. The latter were 

 dressed with the wool on and sewed together for use as bedding. The Indians do 

 not appear to have known anything about shearing off and making any use of the 

 wool as we use it. 



There are many points in the " scrubs/' as we call them, that cause me to believe 

 that they spring irom the Merino, as Mr. Bell seems to suspect. The Merino intro- 

 duced and turned out to shift for itself, comes nearer being hardy in the piney woods 

 than any of the finer breeds yet tried, and in many efforts made in Alabama to grade 

 up the scrubs, the Merino cross has proved decidedly the most successful. All of 

 which points with reason to a Merino origin. That the Merinos were introduced by 

 the Spaniards, and at a very early date, is the most plausible hypothesis to which we 

 can jump, but as in the case of our " native " peaches, it must doubtless ever remain 

 only a hypothesis. 



I am satisfied that our long-leaf pine regions must eventually rank very high as a 

 sheep country, and I am furthermore strongly of the opinion that these scrubs are the 

 nucleus upon which our success must be built. Why not ? Our scrub, in its natural 

 condition, is a fairly good sheep, both for wool and mutton ; then it grades up rather 

 well to the Mermo, as already intimated. Of course a great deal might be done for 

 it by selection, and its extreme hardiness would certainly justify our giving it special 

 attention in that direction. To convey some idea of how hardy it is, I may refer to 

 a case under my personal observation in Mobile County, Ala. Four years ago Mr. 

 John Robertson, living on the highlands in the northern portion of the county, 

 bought and turned out upon the range 16 of these scrub ewes with 2 males. He has 

 gi\-en his flock no kind of attention since, other than to shear and attend to the lambs 

 once a year (in spring), and to-day his flock umubers 200, all from that original 18. 

 Beyond the little attention just alluded to his flock has not cost him a single dollar. 

 Of course it would have been the same on any of the good pine lands in Florida 

 where there was no interference by dogs, hogs, or wild animals. 



My conclusions that our great success with sheep must be built upon the "native" 

 scrub have taken shape from what I have seen coming of efforts to start the sheep 

 business with other breeds in the coast belt of Alabama. Thoy have been numerous. 

 Seeing what our scrubs were doing, people have moved down from Kansas and Mis- 

 souri and Illinois to make fortunes off sheep, bringing their stock with them. They 

 never stay long. The enterprise invariably proves a failure, and they go back in 

 disgust to give our region of country a fearful name so far as relates to the sheep 

 industry. But we go on all the same astonishing the world with the inraiensity of 

 our wool products, for the world, after receiving the reports of these unsuccessful 

 enthusiasts, can not for the life of it understand how we manage the matter. 



These sheep are small and agile, and have, in common with their 

 Spanish anc e.stors, a wonderful hardiness of constitution. The fierce 

 battles of the rams at the rutting season, rough food and hard life for 

 over three centuries are causes that have by a process of natural selec- 

 tion and the " survival of the fittest" eliminated all but the strongest 

 and healthiest animals and produced a type as distinct as that claimed 

 by any well-established breed. These sheep have beautifully shaped 

 heads and the horns of the ram have a graceful curl. Theix wool is biit 

 little inferior to that of the pure-bred Merino, but it differs from it in 

 not being a finely crimped, and being long and lustrous. The fine char- 

 acter of most of the wool is generally attributed to the mixture of 

 grasses, herbs, and wild vegetables forming the feed of the animal, and 

 which grew in abundance in every part of the section in which these 



