290 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[AtjSust, 
[OOPTEIGHT SECTJBED.J 
IMPORTED COTSWOLD RAM, "HIS ROYAL HIGHNKSS." 
Owned by Burdett Loomis, Windsor Locks, Ot. 
Cotswold Sheep.— Mutton and "Wool, 
When the whole community of sheep raisers 
is running -wild, almost, after fine-wool sheep, it 
may seem strange to some that we should con- 
tinually advocate mutton breeds. Perhaps it 
would not be so if these were the favorites of 
the speculative class of breeders. We can, and 
do, raise as good mutton in this country as they 
do in England, but our people are not such 
mutton eaters, and, though mutton raising pays 
quite as well, in fact better usually, than beef 
raising, yet our market is not a discriminating 
one, and the most profitable sheep to buy and 
fatten are fine-wools, if bought with judicious 
care. There is always sale for South-down and 
Coltswold mutton, and the difference in price is 
not what it ought to be, though remunerative. 
Of late there has been a remarkable change in 
the value of the combing wools. They have in- 
Creased in price, while fine wools rule scarcely 
any higher than in specie times, and, were the 
quotations reduced to the gold standard, they 
would be lower now than for many years. 
The reasons for the high price of long wools 
are several. A class of manufactures has come 
in vogue which requires these combing wools, 
and the supply from Canada is, in a good meas- 
ure, cut off by the operation of the new Tariff, 
while in England, the home demand keeps 
prices up, and the wool chiefly at home. The 
small amount of combing wools raised in this 
country is not, it seems, sufficient for the de- 
mand. There seems to be an overstock of goods 
made from the finest wools, and manufacturers 
are buying but very limited quantities, hence 
the general depression of the fine wool market. 
A few years ago long wool sold according to 
quality — length, fineness, strength and gloss — at 
25c. to 35c. per pound. Now it sells at 50c. to 
75c. The clip of a flock of equal purity and 
excellence with those shown in our engraving, 
recently sold, unwashed, at 50c. to 55c, which is 
equal to 75c. to 82c. , according to the usual calcu- 
lation — deducting one-third as loss in washing. 
It is hot to be expected that these rela- 
tive prices will continue, but it is certain that 
these beautiful combing fleeces have gained, and 
will hold, a value far above carpet wools. 
For the real wool raiser, no doubt the best 
policy will ever be to raise the finest and best 
wool, free from excess of grease ; but for small 
farmers who have rich farms on which a few 
sheep, 50 to 100, will do well, none present so 
great attractions now as do the Cotswolds. 
They grow to an immense size, Christmas mut- 
ton carcasses weighing over 200 pounds being al- 
most every year brought to New York, and sell at 
the highest prices. They make large early lambs. 
The grades, half-bred, are very strongly marked, 
and the three-quarters pure are often hard to tell 
from the full-blood Cotswolds, except by the ac- 
curate and distinctive marks of purity of blood. 
The fine ram in the engraving was drawn by 
our artist at the New England and Vermont 
Fair last fall, at which he was a first prize win- 
ner, and was imported from one of the best, if not 
the very best flock in Oreat Britain— that of Rob- 
ert Oame, at Aldsworth.near North Leach, Eng. 
