438 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Cotswold or Leicester blood will, with good feed, give us not “ the 
most profitable flock in Essex ” merely, but, in certain sections, the 
best and most profitable flocks in the world. The Cotswolds and 
Leicesters are too fat. The Merinos are too thin. The Cotswold 
wool is too coarse and unnecessarily long. The Merino wool is 
very fine but too short. By crossing, we can get just the wool and 
mutton most in demand. And the sheep are admirably adapted to 
our climate. Of course we must feed better than we are in the 
habit of feeding common Merino flocks, but that is precisely what 
the requirements of our agriculture demand. We shall feed high¬ 
er and make much richer manure. 
Good mutton in England brings a higher price than beef. We 
are shipping beef quarters to England; we shall ship mutton car¬ 
casses also just as soon as the farmers of the United States raise 
such sheep as I have alluded to. Well-fatted mutton will keep 
longer and better than beef, and I should think there would be no 
difficulty in transporting it across the Atlantic. And if I can trust 
my own taste the mutton of these grade Cotswold-Merino sheep, 
when well fatted, will be found nearly, or quite equal to South 
Down mutton, especially when kept till nearly two years old. I 
have just weighed (Aug. 24) one of my two year-old grade ewes 
that has been running with the rest of the flock, but which did not 
have a lamb last spring and is consequently almost fat enough to 
kill. She has two crosses of Cotswold blood in her, she is perfect 
in shape, except that her legs are a little too long, but she is a re¬ 
markably strong, vigorous sheep, admirably adapted to our climate 
and mode of farming. She weighed 200^ pounds, and would prob¬ 
ably dress 28 pounds to the quarter. I do not wash my own sheep, 
but I sold some grade lambs to one of my neighbors who washes 
his sheep. He told me that one of these grade Cotswold-Merino 
lambs this spring sheared twelve pounds of mashed wool. 
Now if we can raise such sheep, and I am sure we can, and if we 
can send the surplus mutton to England after we have supplied our 
own markets, I see no reason why we cannot adopt a higher and 
better system of farming — why, in other words, we cannot keep 
more stock, feed higher, and make more and richer manure. 
There are only two points to be observed: 1st. We must use 
pure~h7‘ed^ long-ivooled rams, and 2d. We must feed the ewes and 
lands liberally. We have plenty of corn, and clover is easily raised. 
