460 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
kets have proved equal to those for the best qualities of their native 
beef, and profitable to the shippers. There is, however, a condition 
attached to our successful exports, which is, that the meat be of 
the best quality, and that quality can only be obtained from ani¬ 
mals of improved breeds which have been partially described. We 
have only to proceed in the cultivation of those breeds, in order to 
add a wide, almost illimitable field of production to the neat stock 
interests of our countrv. 
«/ 
SHEEP. 
These were earlv introduced into our American colonies as com- 
panions of the horses and cattle brought by the settlers. They 
were of the kinds then common to England, Scotland, Ireland, and 
jaerhaps the western coast of the European continent, of various 
breeds, as they then locally prevailed, but without much merit, 
other than a tolerable carcass of ordinary flesh and a moderate fleece 
of coarse wool. They were so kept and propagated, with possibly 
an occasional importation of a better kind from England, but it 
was not until late in the last century that Bakewell, Ellman, and 
other enterprising breeders, made their experiments in different 
breeds, which resulted in any considerable improvement in their 
condition and appearance. Thus the American sheep were chiefly 
of an inferior character. 
Merino. In the early years of the present century, the Ameri¬ 
can embassadors at the courts of France, Spain and Portugal, during 
the intense commotions of the Bonapartean wars, purchased and 
shipped to the United States many hundreds of Spanish Merino 
sheep. They were of the fine-wooled varieties, named as you will 
find in our books on sheep husbandry. Their introduction here was 
hailed with great satisfaction, and as our infant woolen manufac¬ 
tories were 'then just emerging into existence, great importance 
was given to their propagation, not only in their own purity of 
blood, but as valuable crosses on our common flocks in increasing 
and refining the qualities of their wool. From those days forward 
to the present time, the cultivation of the better qualities of wool 
has been the study of numerous flock-masters in various parts of the 
United States, suitable to their rearing, and the sheep interest now 
presents an important branch of our agricultural production and 
wealth. The Spanish Merino has evidently been much improved 
in its American cultivation, not only through the crosses of more 
