174 Western Live-stock Management 
breds in every way but in the important points of abun- 
dance and cheapness. Not over one or two per cent of the 
sheep in America are pure-bred, hence it is impossible to 
obtain pure-bred ewes to produce the mutton and wool 
needed. The few pure-bred ewes obtainable are too high- 
priced to be used for commercial mutton and wool pro- 
duction, and, except the culls, are of much more use to 
the country when used for raising good rams for grading 
up our common flocks. The question of whether to raise 
grades or pure-breds is not, therefore, one of the relative 
merits of grades or pure-breds, but a question of whether 
one is to raise mutton and wool for the usual market chan- 
nels, or to raise breeding rams and ewes for other sheep- 
men. While for the production of commercial mutton 
and wool, grade ewes are a necessity, the ram should in 
all cases be pure-bred. The grade ewes vary in quality, 
depending on the judgment that has been exercised in 
their selection and the extent to which they have graded 
up from common stock by the use of pure-bred sires. As 
a rule, the better ewes are the most profitable investment, 
since ewes that have not been bred up to the point where 
they are reasonably well suited to the purpose in hand 
can seldom be purchased at their true value. After the 
flock has been established, it may be constantly improved 
by the continued use of good sires so that altogether there 
is no reason why the breeder of grades should not have 
a strictly high-class flock. Ewes carrying considerable 
Merino blood are usually hardy good mothers, and heavy 
shearers, and, therefore, very good for farm use except in 
western Washington and Oregon where the winter climate 
is ill-suited to the tight Merino fleeces. The long open 
fleeces of the Cotswold or Lincolns are better suited to the 
warm winter rains of this region, as they drain and dry off 
