UMASS/AMHERST 31EQE3b00S311bDD J^i!3^^;7^ •:>^:;, ^"^-•^v;:;! 14 LIBRARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL NO, 5: SOURCE sr 373 M5F6 ( .3-ISS_7- ._.£uncis A: ■^ \ '%:- DATE DUE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST UASsZcfT THE AMERICAN MEKlM c 9t .0 ^^> FOR WOOL AND FOR MUTTON. A Pragtiom- Treatise on the Selection. Cahe. Beeedino and Diseases op the Meeino Sheep nr iLL SECTIOHS OF THE DSITED STATES. BY STEPHEN POWERS. IL L U ST RAT B D. NEW YORK: 0. JUDD CO., DAVID W. JUDD, Pees't, 751 BROADWAY, 1887. 63 4.'2>E. /V] ^ f- b Entered, accordiDg to Act of Congress, in tbe year 1886, by the O. JUDD CO., In the OfSce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. ^iT. ^ CONTENTS. V<^/. ^ Letter of Request. -7!T!t?^7" Letter of Presentation 8 Chapter I. From Spanish to American 11 Chapter II. Form 22 Chapter III. Fleece 27 Chapter TV. Blood 43 Chapter V. Breeding ^ : 47 Chapter VI. Feed 59 Chapter VII. Pastui-e in the "West.. 67 Chapter VIII. A Mutton ^Merino - 72 Chapter IX. Lambing 85 Chapter X. Care of Ewes and Lambs 95 Chapter XI. Tagging, Washing, etc .-- 104 Chapter XII. Shearing and Doing Up Wool 115 Chapter XIII. Summer Management .125 Chapter XIV. From Grass to Hay 138 Chapter XV. Selection and Care of Rams _ .142 Chapter XVI. The Breeding Flock. 155 Chapter XVII. Sheep Houses and Theii* Appui-tenances... 165 Chapter XVIII. Winter Management 177 V VI CONTEXTS. Chapter XIX. Feeding for Mutton 189 Chapter XX. From Hay to Grass 200 Chapter XXI. Fodder for Sheep ...203 Chapter XXII. Systems of Sheep Husbandry 209 Chapter XXIII. Systems of Sheep Husbandly (Continued) 222 Chapter XXIV. Systems of Sheep Husbandly (Continued) 234 Chapter XXV. Systems of Sheep Husbandry (Continued). 251 Chapter XXVI. Systems of Sheep Husbandly (Continued) 264 Chapter XXVII. Diseases of the Merino— "Paperskin " 277 Chapter XXVIII. Parasitic Diseases (Continued) 287 Chapter XXIX. External Parasites - 301 Chapter XXX. Diseases of the Feet 316 Chapter XXXI. Diseases of the Respiratory Organs 324 Chapter XXXII. Diseases of the Alimentary System 328 Chapter XXXIII. Blood Diseases .338 Chapter XXXIV. Diseases of the Nervous System 345 Chapter XXXV. Diseases of the Urinary and Reproductive Organs -348 Chapter XXXVI. Miscellaneous ...353 CORRESPONDENCE. Mr. G. B. Quinn, the President, and IMr. J. G. Blue, the Sec- retary, of the Ohio Spanish Sheep Breeders' Association, ad- dressed a communication to Mr. Stephen Powers, in which thej said : Office of the Ohio Spanish Merino Sheep Breeders' Association. Cardington, Ohio. The breeders and owners of Merino Sheep find they are called upon to master new and, in many cases, fatal dis- eases not spoken of by the celebrated writers, Randall and Youatt. Among the writers on the Merino of to-day, we think some one should present to the pubHc a practical treatise, which shall discuss the present management, diseases and breeding of Merinos and sheep of different bloods, comparing their merits in our States and Territories. We think the present magnitude of this industry demands ^^ * * * the proper education of our shepherds and flock-masters in all the new diseases of Merinos which have been developed during the last decade, and in the older ones which yet, in some instances, infest our flocks. The Ohio Spanish Merino Sheep Breeders' Association, by their President and Secretary, would respectfully request you, at your earliest convenience, to condense your ideas on this subject into a suitable volume, to be printed and presented to the public for their enlightenment. You have perhaps observed the need and demand for such a volume, properly written and illustrated, to be placed upon the market for the thousands of flock-masters of to-day. Should you comply with this request, and should it be pos- sible for you to give your time continuously to the volume until completed, we think the sheep frateiTiity of our country, and all who are interested, wiU freely patronize your work and appre- ciate your labors. (7) 8 THE AMEEICAN MERINO Mr. Powers replied as follows : Messrs. Geo. B. Quinn and J. G. Blue. Gentlemen: — Together with your kind letter, inviting me to prepare a book on our National breed of sheep, I received a copy of the Register of your Association, containing a record of several hundred pure-blood flocks owned mostly in Ohio — a work carefully edited and printed, and substantially bound. Nothiiag could afford more convincing proof than this elegant volume, of the solidity and the prosperity of your ancient call- ing in our State. I have undertaken to do what you ask, and offer you here- with a work on " The American Merino." I tender it modestly and without comment, except the simple remark that my task has been conscientiously performed, and that it is based on years of personal experience in sheep husbandly. While it would be presumptuous in me to say that the volume herewith tendered to yourselves and the public, fully meets the requirements of modern shepherding in the United States, it is not too much to aver that our great industry has outgrown the manuals heretofore published. Since the learned work of Dr. Randall was given to the world, the American Merino has not only crossed the Missouri and ascended the slopes of the Rocky Mountains, but has fol- lowed the dusty wagon-trail of the emigrant to California, where it attained a larger and hardier form and a new acclimation ; and, starting out thence afresh, north, south and east, it over- spread the whole mid-continent. With a scholarly pen this distinguished author traced the development of the American Merino to the banks of the Mississippi ; but the traits and needs of that great new branch or type of the race, which may be called the California Merino — the "rustler," as it is termed in the expressive vernacular — were little understood by him. The worl: of Mr. Henry Stewart is invaluable to the American breeder of the English races, with their long category of special wants and ailments ; but it would hardly be claimed, even by the candid and painstaking author himself, that it is fully abreast of the advance of the Merino in the Far West. The present may seem to be a dark day for the breeder of Merinos, but the American future of this great race, potent FOR WOOL AJ^D MUTTOiT. 9 from "long descent," is as well assured as that of the continent itself. In 1865, the Boston price of fine wool was one dollar and two cents per pound ; of coarse, ninety-six cents. In 1885 the number of Merinos in the world is at least one hundred per cent, greater than then, while the number of coarse-wools (owing to the actual decrease in England) has increased very- little, if at all. Yet to-day, the Boston price of Merino wool is thirty-four cents, and of coarse, it is thirty cents. In spite of the enormous increase of Merinos, their wool is proportionately higher than it was then. Even in 1866, before the tariff was increased, the actual an- nual revenue from the Merino sheep of the United States was two dollars and sixteen cents ; from the mutton-sheep of Eng- land, one dollar and seventeen cents. The breeder of the American Merino should not for one moment allow himself to be discouraged, if he is a good shep- herd. He can abate much, and yet make more money than the flock-master of other lands. Vermont, the mother of the American Merino, gave to Ohio and the West, a sheep incomparable in the whole world as a producer of wool ; and which has well fulfilled its destiny in our younger civilization. Let it now be the work of Ohio, of your Association, and kindred societies in other States, to give to America what the disciples of Daubenton created at Ram- bouillet : the farmer's sheep, a ''mutton Merino," presenting in itself the best attainable combination of flesh and pelage, which, as a writer in the Breeders' Gazette happily says, ' ' stands ready for a partnership arrangement with any domestic animal or any sort of crop the farmer may choose to cultivate." Against a National race of such a type, the American Govern- ment can never afford to enact hostile legislation. While it is yours, gentlemen, to labor for the accomplishment of this highly desirable result, and to preserve in your several Registers that pedigree so highly valued by the breeders, let it be mine to give in the following pages, as well as I may, the present condition and directions for the rearing of the Merino. Stephen Powers. THE AMERICAN MERINO. CHAPTER I. FROM "SPANISH" TO "AMERICAN." There are two etymologies given for the word "Merino." One, put forth in the biography of Consul Wm, Jarvis, and adopted by the Ohio Register, traces it to two Spanish words meaning ' ' from over the sea. " The other, upheld by E. Ollen- dorf, a writer in the Breeders' Gazette, and some others, would derive it from Merino, the designation of a certain royal officer of Spain, years ago; one of whose functions was the assign- ment of their respective pasture grounds to the mountain sheep (Serranos), and the migratory sheep {Trans-humantes). Mr. Seth Adams imported the first pair of Spanish Merinos to the United States for breeding purposes, in 1801, bringing them from France to Dorchester, Mass. In 1807 he became a citizen of Wacatomica (now Dresden), in Ohio, and brought with him twenty-five or thirty sheep, the descendants of this pair. He continued to breed them for several years, under the very dis- couraging circumstances which attended pioneer life in those days, but finally sold out the flock and moved to Zanesville. Though this importation was of great benefit to Ohio and also to Kentucky (the first pair Mr. Adams sold in Ohio was to Judge Todd, of Kentucky, for fifteen hundred dollars), yet the stress of pioneer life was too severe, and there are not now any descendants of it positively recognizable. The credit of the first traceable importation, therefore, be- longs to Col. David Humphreys, who brought from Spain to Derby, Conn., in 1802, twenty-one rams and seventy ewes. But this now celebrated flock would have been lost to recorded history, too, though not to the blood and stock of the country, had it not been preserved by the one ewe bought by Stephen (11) 12 THE AMERICAK MERINO Atwood. A Humphreys' ewe and a Heaton ram, in the hands of this noted and careful breeder, alone preserved for modern registers the blood of this large and choice flock. Still, for a time. Merino sheep were wonderfully popular. It is recorded that President Madison wore, at his inauguration in 1809, a coat made from wool grown on sheep from Col. Hum- phreys' flock, and a waistcoat and small clothes made from the Livingston French flock, of Clermont, N. H. Four lambs were sold in 1810 from the Livingston flock, at one thousand dollars each, and Col. Humphreys is said to have sold two pairs of Merinos at three thousand dollars a pair. (It should be borne in mind that one dollar then, represents at least two now). Col. Humphreys sold his half-blood Merino wool at seventy-five cents a pound; three-quarter-blood at one dollar and twenty-five cents; and his full-blood at two dollars a pound. Accordingly, very large importations of Merinos began to arrive. Mr. Albert Chapman states that, in the years 1810 and 1811, one hundred and six vessels arrived at various ports of the United States, bringing in all, fifteen thousand seven hun- dred and sixty-seven sheep ! Of these, the vast majority were Merinos from Spain; and of the latter, it is considered probable that the greater number were purchased by that indefatigable patriot, Consul Jarvis. It is not certainly known from what cabanas, or flocks, in Spain, Col. Humphreys selected his purchase, nor does it appear that he considered it a matter of importance. Mr. Atwood said, in 1864, "The original Humphreys' sheep were, in color, lighter than my present flock," while those imported by Mr. A. Heaton, " were short-legged, dark and heavy-wooled." The principal flocks of Spain from which Merinos were brought to America, were Infantados, Paulars, Escurials, Neg- rettis, Montarcos, Guadaloupes and Aguirres. It has generally been believed that Col. Humphreys selected his sheep from the Infantados, while ConsulJarvis bought from all the other flocks above named, except Infantados. Col. Humphreys mentions that a ram bred on his fann cut seven pounds and five ounces of washed wool. Mr. Jarvis says: " From 1811 to 1826 ****** niy average weight of wool was three pounds and fourteen ounces, to four pounds and two ounces — varying according to keep. The weight of the wool of the bucks was from five and a quarter pounds to six and a half pounds, in good stock case, aU washed ou the eheepg backs." FOR WOOL Al^D MUTTON. 13 14 THE AMERICAJT MERIXO Many acrimonious controversies have been waged by the partisans of the different flocks in the United States, as to their respective merits and their purity. It is now acknowledged by the authors of the Ohio Register, that we probably have no pure sheep of any one of the above named celebrated cabanas in America; they have all been more or less mingled. But we have, perhaps, a million pure American Merinos of undoubted Spanish descent; and this one fact, which alone is of practical importance, should satisfy every breeder of this great and ancient race. This, I take it, is the true purport of the follow- ing sentence (p. 28) in the American Register, of Wisconsin : "The imperfect records of the Spanish Merino sheep, from their early importations until 1860, have been such that an absolute certainty is an impossibility, but the march of progress has been so grand, and the improvements so great, that any imper- fections that may have stained the blood of those early breed- ers, does not and cannot stain the blood of to-day." The Paulars were undoubtedly one of the handsomest flocks in Spain ; the wool was compact, soft and silky, and the surface not so much covered with gum. The Aguirres had more wool about their faces and legs than either of the other flocks. The wool was more crimped than the Paular, and less so than the Negretti, and it was thick and soft. They were short-legged, round and broad-bodied, with loose skins. The Negrettis were the tallest sheep in Spain, but were not handsomely formed ; the wool was somewhat shorter than the Paular, the skin moro loose and inclined to double ; many of them were wooled well on the face, and on their legs down to their hoofs. All the loose-skinned sheep had large dewlaps. The Guadaloupcs wero rather large-boned, but not handsome ; wool thick and crim- ped ; skins loose and doubling ; generally more gummy than any of the other flocks. The Escurials were about as tall as the Paulars, but slighter, and their wool not so thick ; they were plainer than the Negrettis and Aguirres, and not so well wooled on the faces and legs. The Infantados were the largest and most popular flock ; their lambs, like the Paular, often have a hairy coat when born ; a mark of a good shearer. The Paular lambs often have butter-nut-tipped ears at birth. A black lamb is oftener yeaned from the Paular strain of blood, than any other ; but the best-informed shepherds nowadays, do not consider a black lamb any evidence of impurity of blood, though the color itself is objectionable. When Col. Humphreys first began to sell pure Merinos, the FOS WOOL AND MUTTOK. 15 price did not generally exceed one hundred dollars per head; but, as we have seen above, they afterward commanded en- ormous prices. This was in consequence of the embargo and the war of 1813, during which, full-blooded wool at one time, brought two dollars and fifty cents a pound, (two dollars even as far west as Marietta, Ohio). But after this war closed there was a disastrous collapse; many pure Merinos were sold for one dollar a head; and many of the best flocks of the country were sold and dispersed. The extensive importations of Consul Jarvis also contributed to this cheapening. This country, therefore, owes an inextinguishable debt of gratitude to that plain, simple man, Stephen Atwood, who, with an abiding faith in the future of this breed of sheep, in 1813 paid one hundred and twenty dollars for a full-blood Humphreys ewe, and in 1819, bought five more of the same descent ; and with this little band as a foundation, breeding to Humphreys rams until 1838 (after which he could find no more that were pure, and was obliged to depend on his own), for more than half a century, whether wool was up or down, tariff or no tariff, he kept his small flock together on his small farm, and bred it so pure that, in this day of many Registers, and of much ''crookedness," the very highest warrant that can be given any sheep is, to pronounce it a " straight Atwood." His first fleece from this noted ewe, shorn in June, 1814, was three pounds and nine ounces. That he was a progressive breeder appears from the fact that, in June, 1857, he cut from a ram of the same blood, nineteen pounds and eleven ounces, though the same animal, next year, with another owner, yielded thirty-two pounds. Recent investigations by the Ohio Register leave it doubtful whether this ewe of Atwood's was a Paular or an Infantado. They also show that Atwood was less careful in his records than in his breeding, and that the present blood of the American Merino is much purer than its recorded pedigree. While Mr. William Jarvis deserves the highest praise for the indomitable energy, perseverance and sagacity, which led him, as Consul to Lisbon, amid the conflicts of the Napoleonic wars, to gather up the wrecks of the ancient flocks of Spam, and dispatch ship-load after ship-load to America ; yet he ranks below Mr. Atwood m the singleness and steadfastness with which the latter held to his purpose and practice of breeding for fifty years. Mr. Jai-vis put on his farm at Weathersfield, ,Vt., three hundred sheep of the Paular, Aguirre, Escurial, Montarco and Negretti flocks. According to the Spanish cus- 16 THE AMERICAN MERIIfO V torn, he bred each of these separately until 1816 or 1817, when . he mixed them together. In 1826 he committed the mistake of crossing with the Saxony Merinos, a mania for which was at that time over-sweeping the country. But this country is in- debted to Mr. Jarvis for most of the admirable Paular blood it has received ; and there were men who bought of him pure Spanish Merinos, and who were not swept away by the Saxony mania which passed over the country. To him, ultimately, we Fig;. 2.— MERINO EWE. are indebted for the fine flock of the Messrs. Rich, of Vermont, which has been a prolific mother of Western studs. Mr. Chap- man says, with the fervor of a strong partisan: "Let us all -especially revere the memory of Thurman and Charles Rich, whose firmness and judgment were not shaken, and who have left unto their heirs and the land, the goodly heritage of the Rich flock, without even a smell or rumor of Saxony upon its ; outermost skirts." At this point 1 will present a sketch of a Paular Merino ewe, figured in the Albany Cultivator, December, 1840, of which the owner says, ** Her form at any rate is genuinely MeiHno," though he complains further on: *' Still it must be acknowledged that the Merino, compared with the improved breeds of sheep, is aa ill-formed animal." FOE WOOL AKD MUTTOiq'. 17 By way of contrast, I give next a group of two ewes of the American Merino, owned by G. B. Quinn, Esq. , Brown's Mills, Ohio. {See Frontispiece.) The greatest breeder America has yet produced, Edwin Ham- mond, of Vermont, now appeared upon the scene, to give that improvement to the Merino form, which the contributor to the Cultivator had sighed for. Before Hammond, there was only the Spanish Merino ; after Hammond, there was a truly Amer- ican Merino. We may believe that this great specialist began with about Buch material as that figured above ; for " Old Black," which he bought of Atwood, in 1849, is thus described by Mr. Randall : "He was long, tall, flat-ribbed, rather long in the neck and head, strong-boned, a little roach-backed, deep-chested, moder- ately wrinkled ; his wool was about an inch and a half long, of medium thickness, extremely yolky, and dark-colored extern- ally ; face a little bare, and not much wool on shanks. He did not- possess a very strong constitution." He weighed about one hundred and thirty-five pounds, and cut about fourteen pounds of wool, unwashed. This was certainly not very promising material. I would not, if I could, trace Mr. Hammond's wonderful career through ail the intricacies and niceties of his art. He developed ultimately three lines, or sub-families, in his flock — "the dark or Queen line," "the light-colored line," and the "intermediate." The best sheep of his flock were, almost in- variably, produced by crossing between these lines. But we may profitably trace a few of his foot-steps, as they are imprinted on the records. "Old Black" lived nineteen years, attesting the vigor created by Atwood's open-air shep- herding ; but Hammond soon found (or created) better material. His own ram, " Wooster," bred in 1849, weighed only one hun- dred and five pounds, but sheared nineteen and one quarter pounds, unwashed. He served three hundred ewes when he was a year old ! He was compact and short-legged; head short and thick ; very wrinkly ; wool about two inches long. " Old Greasy," bred in 1850, weighed one hundred and ten pounds and cut twenty-two pounds. " Old Wrinkly," bred in 1853, weighed one hundred and thirty pounds and sheared twenty- three pounds. In breeding, next, from " Little \Vrinkly," Mr. Hammond suiTered a backset in weight of fleece, though his wool was very fine and even. But " Sweepstakes " (1856) went up to one hundred and forty pounds in weight of carcass. 18 THE AMEBIC AN MERINO and twenty-seven pounds in fleece. In this noble animal, perhaps the art of the master reached its culmination ; he united in himself the blood of the three lines, and is believed to have produced more scoured wool in one fleece, than any other ram which Hammond ever owned. "Young Matchless" was a model of compactness, strength, and symmetry ; had immense constitution, and did more than any other ram to impart the short, thick, round carcass so con- spicuous in the American Merino; while "Long "Wool" im- proved the fleece above any other, perhaps, especially in length. But " Sweepstakes " combined both or all these excellences, and transmitted them to his progeny. Mr. Hammond died in 1870, but the year 1856, which marks the birth of " Sweepstakes," may be assumed as the starting- point of the American Mermo. In 1861, Mr. Randal] instituted certain measurements of carcass on a ram and three ewes of his flock (which was of the Hammond blood) ; and a few of these, with the Austrian figures reduced to English, will be of interest here as showing the points in which the American Jlerino is an improvement over the Spanish. Ra.Tn Infantado. Ewe - Ram. Negretti. Ewe Ram American. Ewe Ewe Ewe S Si lbs. 104 73 lOOi 70 122 114 133 100 c §2 1 • cy rS .£; ^3 S 2 « ^ <5'5 IS e; t-t ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. 1 lOi 1 10 5 5 8 4i 5 2^ 4 Hi 1 lU 1 9i 5 5 V 5 1* 5 2 10 10 10 11 3 3 4 3 11 lU 11 4 41 4 4i 4 3 4 01 ft. in. 7i 7 7i 6 9 8 8 8 From these figures we Icam the almost incredible fact that, while the Spanish ]\Iorinos were nearly two feet longer in all, and a foot longer in the neck, they weighed from twenty to twenty-five pounds less, and were not so broad across the hips by about two inches I Tlieir fore-legs were also six or seven inches longer than those of the American Merino ) FOR WOOL AND MUTTON". 19 Livingston gives the weight of the unwashed Spanish fleeces at eight and one half pounds for the ram, and five pounds for the ewe. Even in Randall's day, the American Merino un- washed fleeces were nearly double these weights. In Spain, the best rams yielded only about six or eight per cent, of their weight in wool ; in America, about 1844, it had increased to fifteen per cent. ; and in 1861, Hammond's celebrated ram, " Twenty-one Per Cent." had increased the proportion to the figures which gave him his name. There were forwarded to the Paris Exposition, American Merino fleeces (twenty-one rams, forty-six ewes), of which the per cent, of wool, to hve weight for the whole, was 23 ; of the best thirty, 25.2 ; of the best six, 30.1 ; of the best one, 36.6. With this notable improvement in compactness of form, and wool-bearing capacity, there has been no deterioration in the fineness of the fiber, but, perhaps, the reverse. Youatt gave as the average diameter of the Merino wool-fiber in his day, one- seven hundred and fiftieth of an inch ; of Saxony wool, one- eight hundred and fortieth of an inch. In 1878, measurements of wool made in Vermont, as stated by Hon. Henry Lane, of that State, showed rams' fleeces with a fiber of the diameter of one-nine hundred and thirty -fourth of an inch ; and ewes' of one-one tnousand and fifth of an inch. But it may well be questioned whether sheep yielcUng such a fine fiber as this, and such an enormous percentage of wool to live weight, are desirable ; they are generally lacking in vigor. The best shepherds are beginning to acknowledge that the hot- house forcing of the American Merino's wool-bearing aptitude, has been, in maiiy instances, carried too far. Thus, in report- ing the annual "State Shearing" of Vermont for 1885, Mr. Albert Chapman says: "It will be remarked that there is a faUing off in the weights attained by rams and ewes one year old, a very good indication that our breeders are becoming con- vinced that the forcing system to attain large size and heavy fleeces the first year, is neitlier desirable or profitable, and the gains in the mature sheep show that slower development tends to much better and larger improvements in the end." In the percentage of scoured wool, per fleece, there has been, perhaps, a sHght improvement over the Spanish, in the great mass of American Merinos and high-grades throughout the coun- try ; but the enormous development of yolk, under the housing and other artificial treatment of the stud flock, has tended to prejudice the breed in the minds of many careful conservative 20 THE AMERICAI^ ]MrETlIN"0 wool-growers. I have the authority of Messrs. Coates Brothers, of Philadelphia, for saying that fleeces have been shorn in this country which yielded only twelve and one-half per cent of pure wool. In 1876, "Patrick Henry," bred by L. P. Clark, of Vermont, yielded a fleece of thirty-seven pounds, which turned out nine pounds and ten ounces of clean wool, or twenty-six per cent. " Bascom," owned by Capt. J. G. Blue, of Carding- ton, Ohio, once gave a fleece of twenty-nine and one-quarter pounds, whicli scoured nine and one-quarter pounds, or thu'ty- one and six-tenths per cent. The heaviest known fleece yet cut from an American Merino, was one of forty-four pounds and four ounces, which was yielded by "Buckeye," a ram owned partly in Huron County, Ohio, partly in Michigan, at the " State Shearing" of the latter State in 18S4. For detailed histories of noted breeders and their flocks, the reader must consult the voluminous registers of the various National and State Associations. But there are a few items, which may be given here as landmarks in the progress of the American Merino. While the written or printed histories of the Adams, Humphreys, Heaton and Jaiwis importations are practically lost, owing to numerous transfers, the flock of C. S. Ramsey, Castleton, Vt., has an unbroken traditional record from the Humphreys' importation to the present time. In 1809, Israel Putnam, of Marietta, Ohio, bought of Seth Adams some full-blood Merinos, and founded a flock, which was continued by his son, L. J. P. Putnam, substantially to the present time, but without registration. June 13, 1811, Dr. In- crease Mathews, of Putnam, Ohio, bought an Infantado ram and two ewes, just imported into Alexandria, Va., and had them brought in a wagon to his farm in Ohio, where he kept up a pure flock until about 1850. In 1811, Col. Humphreys sold a ram for sixteen hundred acres of Ohio land to Paul Fearing and B. I. Oilman, of Marietta, Ohio, and this ram was brought on and laid the foundation for a flock which was kept up many years. In 1826, Col. John Stone and George Dana, of Belpre, Ohio, bought a number of pure Merinos from the celebrated WeUs flock, of Steubenvillc, Oliio ; and Col. Stone kept up a flock over half a century. The Wells flock, just mentioned, was founded in 1815, and continued to 1829, when it was a grand flock of three thousand head, shearing about five pounds of washed wool per fleece. It was then sold and scattered. For some reason a cloud has always rested over the importa- FOR WOOL AND MUTTON". 21 tions made subsequently to 1812 ; hence the fine flocks of " Black-top " or " Delaine Merinos" — locally known by way of emphasis as " the big Merinos " — found in Wasliington County, Pa., tracing to the Meade importation, and with some admix- ture of Saxony in several cases, founded about 1826-30, have been regarded as Pariahs and outcasts, whose abode was without the camp. But, in view of the fact that these same flocks have contributed, perhaps more than any others within its borders, to set Washington County at the very forefront of the United States in the production of sheep and wool, they can rest tran- quilly under this bar sinister on their escutcheon. Presenting themselves with a modest register, in which no special effort is made to conceal the stain in their blood (if it be one) the " Victor-Beall Delaine Merinos " ought to be recognized as an excellent variety of the American. The flock of Daniel Kelly, Wlieaton, 111., has a record dating from 1829. That belonging to Alex. Fraser, East Troy, Wis., originating from Atwood Mermos, has a record reaching back to 1846. The spread of the Merinos over the Far West is traced to some extent in subsequent chapters. 2Z THE AMERICAN MERINO CHAPTER II. FORM. Correlation of Carcass and Fleece. — In the appendix to The Practical Shepherd, Mr. Randall gives some valuable tables, which go to show that small sheep produce proportionately more wool than medium or large ones. I shall abridge these somewliat, and give, first, a table which is based on six hundred and fifty-five sheep, divided into lots according to age and sex. These tables represent the results of three years' observations. Age. Sex. Average Weight of Body. Average Weight of' Fleece. Bjunds of Body to One of Wool. 1 E 55.74 5.07 11.01 2 E 67.03 4.94 13. .54 3 E 75.99 5.18 14.58 4 E 82.49 5.06 16.33 5 E 74.07 4 75 15.68 6 E 79.00 4.78 16.49 1 W 64. 2S 5.16 12.43 2 W 84.23 5. (.9 14.77 3 W 88.86 6.45 14.57 4 W 103.94 7.04 14.04 5 W 97.72 7.12 13.71 Pci' Cent of \Yool to Weight of Body. 8.10 6.90 6.41 5.88 6.00 5.70 7.50 6.49 6.58 6.65 7.00 From this table, it appears that ewes shear their heaviest fleece at three years old, but gain in weight until they reach the age of four. The percentage of wool to live weight de- creases every year (with the exception of one) until they are six years old. It shows also that, for the first two years, ewes are more profitable as shearers than wethers ; but after they begin to btar iambs, of course, they fall a little behind in tlieir per- centage of wool to cai'cass. The second table is based on the FOR WOOL Al^D MUTTOi^. same number of sheep, classified by weight, for the same num- ber of years. Per Cent of No. in WeigJit of Average Average Pounds of Wool to Lot. Lots. Weight. Weight of Body to One Live Fleece. of Wool. Weight. 52 3i to 51 44.63 4.08 11.36 8.16 89 50 to 61 55.78 4.71 11.90 7.80 129 60 to 71 66.03 5.09 12.98 7.13 160 70 to 81 75.52 5.31 14.21 6.53 93 SO to 91 85.25 5.78 14.77 6.33 75 90 to 101 95. SO 6.10 15.44 5.85 58 100 to 140 111.31 7.17 15.56 6.04 It will be observed from this table, that the percentage of wool to live weight, decreases steadily with the increase in the size of the sheep, until the last lot is reached, where there is an increase of the fifth of one per cent. But there were only seven sheep in this heavy lot, and if there had been a large number to average from, the result might have been different. At any rate, the conclusion is irresistible, that young sheep are the most profitable as wool-producers ; also, the further con- clusion, that a wether at four years of age will yield more mut- ton, on an average, than he ever will afterward. Hence, that flock will pay best which has every year the highest percentage of lambs, notwithstanding the fact that lambs are subject to more accidents and fatalities than older sheep. Furthermore, since a ewe is more profitable as a wool-bearer than a wether, up to the time when she bears a lamb, and is more profitable afterward, by reason of her lamb, ewes are a better paying class of sheep than wethers. This would indicate the policy of selling off wethers closely, and buying ewes for breeders. I may add that IvI. Bernardin, the suf e intendent of the RambouiUet flock of France, in a letter to iVIr. W, G. Markham, states that : ' ' Dividing a flock according to weight into four sections, we find the smallest sheep will yield twelve and thirty- eight hundredths per cent of their live weight in wool ; the next largest, eleven and forty-one hundredths ; the next, ten and thirty-eight hundredths ; and the heaviest, nine and fifty- one hundredths." A small Merino is hardier and more prolific than a large one. One hundred and twenty sheep, weighing ten thousand pounds, will not consume any more feed than one hundred weighing a like amount. On the score of mutton, the medium sheep is 24 THE AMERICAN^ MERHSTO not objectionable, because the butcher considers size as second- ary, and seeks for the carcass which is thoroughly well fattened. In proof of this, I give a list of the sales of mutton sheep made on two consecutive days in the last week of March, 1885, at the Union Stock Yards, Chicago, the second column showing the average live weight, and the third column the price per hundred pounds. (Note how quahty rules instead of weight) : — JVb. Av. 30 inferior 66 10 inferior 80 126 inferior 60 67 common 81 60 common 67 89 common 73 287 common 70 171 fair 103 40 fair 87 103 Western 71 96 Western 87 19 medium 83 179 medium 95 110 medium 90 62 common 87 80 common 88 102 common 83 100 fair 82 100 fair 82 73 fair 91 30 fair 75 55 fair 78 74 fair 77 27 fair 71 136 fair 90 110 fair 73 32 fair 90 Pr. 2 30 2 75 2 95 3 35 3 50 3 50 3 55 3 60 3 75 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 (0 75 75 90 90 60 25 3 87i 3 3 3 3 3 40 50 50 50 GO 3 65 3 70 75 75 75 3 3 3 No. Av. Pr. 81 e:ood 106 4 00 52'^ood 95 4 00 125 good 90 4 15 506 Western 124 4 20 177 Western 100 4 25 169good 118 4 25 58 good lOS 4 40 98 choice 95 4 40 171 choice 123 4 50 10 choice 100 4 50 280 choice 139 4 75 75 good 109 4 75 18 choice 112 4 75 1S9 extra 117 5 00 170 medium 94 3 90 117 medium 88 3 90 94 medium 87 3 CO 7'4 medium 91 4 124 63 choice 114 4 50 95-ood 88 4 25 'rO-iood 108 4 25 (rtgood 121 4 25 83 good 113 4 25 10 good 156 4 40 89 choice 105 4 50 66 choice 135 4 75 47 Iambs 93 5 50 Race Type. — A perfect animal should be symmetrical and well-rounded, without angularity ; the top and bottom lines straight, and nearly parallel to the root of the scrag or neck. Back straight ; ribs well sprung out, giving a round baiTel, thick through the heart ; shoulders deep, chest broad, breast bone or brisket extending well in front and down ; hips long, straight and broad ; thighs well let down, and heavy ; neck short and powerful, without droop on top ; head broad, nose short and wrinkly, nostrils not flat, but round and open ; legs stout, bony, standing wide apart at knee and hock. Experience has demonstrated, that great weight of fleece (if not the greatest), can be combined with constitutional vigor. The greatest amount of yolk compatible with perfect physical FOR WOOL AKD MUTTOl^. 25 development, is admissible in a ram ; so long as the skin remains a bright rosy pink color, and the yolk colorless, or nearly so, it is difficult to develop too much of the latter in the fleece. A. fleece opening buff or orange, is the choice of many breeders, but a yolk tinted lemon, or nankeen, is objectionable, and still more so, one of a greenish tinge ; they evince a morbid habit of body which is associated with clot or induration of the fleece. Wrinkles are not a distinctive race characteristic of the American Merino ; for full-blooded and very fine specimens can be found which are perfectly plain. They are an individual characteristic, and are generally (not always) associated with the highest development of the wool-bearing aptitude, Nature, uncontrolled in her breeding operations, seeks to perpetuate race characteristics alone, so that the labor and skill of man must continually intervene to preserve certain desirable features in the individual. Hence a somewhat greater degree of wrink- liness is permissible in the ram than is desirable in the progeny, as a counter-check to this tendency toward reversion. But, whatever the keeper of the stud-flock may choose, the judicious wool-grower, knowing that a nearly plain sheep is best fitted to cope with wind, r.nd rain, and snow, and is easiest to shear, will look well to it that his rams shall not have the skin too heavily folded. The breeders and wool-growers of Vermont, Western New York, Northern Ohio, and Michigan, carried the wrinkly habit of the Merino to a higher pitch than did those of Ohio, Penn- sylvania and West Virginia ; and coupled with this was a shorter and more yolky staple. These facts have established for the chps of the first-named Stiites, a lower price, by two or three cents, in the Boston and Philadelphia markets, than is paid for the latter. To this, however, there is one exception, namely : that the wools of Northern, or rather Northern Cen- tral Ohio, seU from one to three cents higher than those of Southern Ohio, which is due to their greater uniformity of breeding, and more thorough preparation for market. Delaine Merino. — The longer stapled and plainer sheep of the three States mentioned above, find their culmination in Washington County, Pa., in the "Victor-Beall Delaine Merino," which is a cross between the old Pennsylvania "Black-top "and the "Spanish Merino." Their " scale of points" numbers one hundred, distributed as follows : Constitution, ten ; heavy round the heart, six ; short, heavy neck, six ; good dewlap, five ; broad back, eight ; well-sprung rib, five ; short legs, six ; 26 THE AMEEICAIf MERIXO heavy bone, eight ; small, sharp foot, ten ; length of staple, one year's growth, three inches, eight ; density of fleece, eight ; darkish cast on top, five ; opening up white, five ; with good flow of white oil, five ; good crimp in staple, five. Weight of rams at maturity not less than one hundred and fifty pounds, weight of ewes at maturity, not less than one hundred pounds. This family of sheep has been bred and kept in large flocks, without housing and without pampering. They have been bred also, to produce a short, sharp, and shapely hoof, in order to avoid one of tbe greatest curses of the Merino, a spongy, clubby hoof, and a consequent predisposition to foot-rot. National Improved Saxony. — This is the designation adopted by the present breeders of this fine class of sheep, whose seat is also in Washington County, Pa. They have a scale of points numbering one hundred, eighty of which admit to register, though no animal is eligible whose fleece grades in fineness be- low XXX (the two grades above being picklock and picknic). The points in the scale are otherwise about the same as those in the "Delaine" Register, though they tolerate no wrinkles, and only a slight dewlap. Constitution and evenness of fleece (" well covered on belly, face and legs"), are each fifteen points, which is well, in view of the ancient, hereditary defects of the Saxon. Mr. J. G. Clark, Secretary of their Register, writes me that their rams, when full-grown, weigh from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty pounds, and some have gone over that ; ewes, eighty to one hundred pounds and over. Black-Top Merino.— Mr. W. G. Berry, Secretary of the As- sociation, writes me that the ** Black-top Merino" breeders have in press a Register of about seventy flocks, principally in Wash- ington county. Pa. In default of more accurate information, I append the following extract from The Shepherd's National Journal. The editor, Mr. E. J. Hiatt, a veteran breeder of American Merinos, says : " The purity of the blood has not been questioned." He adds : * * We have been acquainted with flocks tor more than twenty-five years in which this blood pre- dominated. The quality of the wool was good. Specimens were exhibited at the Pittsburgh and Wheeling Fairs last fall. In some respects they showed a marked improvement over their ancestors of twenty or twenty-five years since. The strongest improvement is noticeable in their increased size and their heavier fleeces. In size, they ai-e possibly a little heaviei* than FOR WOOL Aiq^D MUTTO^sT. 37 the American Merinos, and longer in the legs, neck and head. They also shear lighter fleeces. Much of it grades XX and XXX delaine. The head, legs and belly are not covered with as long or compact a fleece as would be desirable." As this work goes to press, the expected Vol. I. of the Black- top Spanish Merino Register makes its appearance. I quote two paragraphs, as to blood and scale of points : " Sheep must be purely bred from the importation of Merino sheep from Spain in the year 1802, as bred by W. R. Dickinson. "Constitution, fifteen points; size, twelve points; general appearance, three points ; body, fifteen points ; head, five points ; neck, four points ; legs and feet, ten points ; covering, eight points ; quahty, seven points ; density, seven points ; length, eight points ; oil, six points ; total, one hundred points.'* CHAPTER III. IXEECE. Structure of the Wool-Fiber.— The wool-fiber is made up of a root, and a stem or shaft, continuous with, and growing out of the root. The root exhibits a flask-shaped enlargement, which fits down somewhat socket-like upon a very small papilla or bulb in the bottom of the fiber-sack ; and this little bulb is the feeder of the fiber, the germ of it, which is able to produce a new one if the old one is plucked out. The shaft of the fiber is composed of an outer cortex, an inner medulla, or marrow (though in a majority of wool-fibers this marrow is hollow nearly to the tip), and, thirdly, an intermediate fibrous portion, constituting two-thirds of the substance of the fiber. The cortex -is formed by the growth of cells ; these cells, lengthening o'.it and becoming flat, assume the form of scales, these being produced one after another, just as a roof is made by the laying of one course of shingles after another, overlap- ping each other. (Vegetable fibers grow at the top, but hair and wool fibers grow at the root, the new portion constantly pushing out the old). The scales, overlapping each other, with free edges, constitute the felting property of wool, which hair, being smooth, possesses to a very limited degree, or not at all. 38 THE AMERICAN MEEIXO This lapped arrangement of the scales of the cortex, can be de- tected by the touch, but not by the eye ; let a fiber be drawn between the thumb and finger from root to tip, and it will pass smoothly and sweetly through, but if it is drawji the other way it will go roughly. A hair will go about as smoothly one way as the other. When a quantity of wool is pressed, rubbed or beaten, the free edges of the scales interlock in an infinite num- ber of places, and the whole is bound together in a close, dense mass ; it is felted. Round and Flat Fibers. — Although wool, as well as hair, is of a tubular construction, yet the cylindrical form varies with the climate. A cross-section of a fiber of wool, if strictly cir- cular, denotes that it has been grown in a cold northern climate, and is lank, long, and soft ; but if the cross-section shows a flat-sided or oval hair in the extreme, then the wool or hair is of tropical growth, and is crisp and frizzled. There is a change in these animal downs as we ascend from the equator to the higher latitudes ; hence our better class wool can only be grown in temperate climates. Too hot a climate yields a wool too crisp and too frizzly ; while, on the other hand, too cool a cli- mate, though yielding a wool that is soft to an extreme degree, gives too little of the curl or frizzle for many manufacturing purposes. This curl or waviness varies in different kinds of "wool. The long Leicester wool has about eight or nine of these waves or curls per inch, but in a fine Ohio wool there are as many as thirty to thirty-three waves or curls per inch. The CrIjMP. — This is one of the nice points of a first-rate Merino fieece. While the hairs of the horse or the ox are straight, the wool-fibers of the Merino are beautifully wavy or crimped, and in the best-bred fleeces this crimp is perceptible by the naked eye to the very tip of the fiber, not being lost in a dark clot or induration. This crimp is caused by frequent, but somewhat irregular, well-marked, and more or less spirally ar- ranged thickenings of the cortex of the fiber. These thicken- nings of the cortical layer occur first on one side of the fiber, then on the other, which gives it its wavy and sinuous char- acter. Length and Diaivieter. — The difference in the length of staple or fiber of the different breeds of sheep is very remark- able, extending from the longest combing wool to the shortest clothing staple. There is a gradation of seventeen and a half inches ; the longest staple being eighteen inches, and the short- FOR WOOL AND MUTTOIS'. 29 est half an inch long, and the different breeds and crosses fill up a graduated scale between these extreme points. While the finest Silesian will yield a fiber one-fifteen hundredtli of an inch in diameter, a Cotswold fiber will be double the size. This idea of measuring the size of fibers of wool with a micro- scope, is not a new one ; it was done thirty years or more ago, but was of no practical benefit. A wool sorter, who has worked at the business from his youth up, without intermission, and whose eyes have failed him so that he cannot read a daily paper without glasses, will tell without their aid the relative size of the fibers of wool so that the different qualities of cloth will be uniform, far more so than the Commissioner of Agriculture could select them with his microscope. But the microscope has shown us one very interesting fact, which the finest touch of the expert would hardly have detected, namely : tliat while the hair from the ox or horse, which falls out yearly, tapers its whole length, the Merino wool fiber tapers only for a short dis- tance at the top ; and when this hoggetty point has been shorn off with the first or lamb's fieece, the fibers ever afterward remain of the same diameter throughout their whole length. How THE Wool Fiber is Plaxted.— We have considered the fiber itself, somewhat ; now let us turn to the follicle, or sack, out of which it grows. This is formed of the epidermis and the dermis of the sheep's skin, turned inward and pro- longed in a very minute cylinder, which sometimes penetrates the tissues of the body one-twelfth of an inch. The blood- vessels are distributed in minute branches in the walls of this follicle, thickest at the bottom of it ; and they supply nourish- ment to the germ at the bottom of the sack, which molds it into the substance of the fiber. Besides the wool-follicle, or fiber sack, there are two other kinds : the sweat follicle, and the yolk follicle, both of which are only about half as deep as the wool follicle. The sweat follicle has its mouth directly on the surface of the skin, this mouth being a pore : but the yolk follicle empties into the wool follicle near the mouth of the latter. The shaft of the fiber does not fit perfectly tight in its sheath or sack ; this leaves space for the yolk to surround the fiber down to its very root. In this space, also, parasites some- times harbor, such as the scab insect. The yolk is for the lubri- cation of the fiber, to prevent it from felting with its neighbors, while on the sheep's back. The free edges of the scales on the fibeij like little barbs pointing toward the tip, continually work 30 THE AMERICAl^ MERIKO the yolk outward toward the tip and at the same time expel dirt from the fleece. Thus we see how it is that the Merino, which has the finest and best felting wool (in others words, fibers with the greatest number of scales to the linear inch), needs also the greatest amount of yolk. Sorts in the Fleece. — The keen-eyed professional sorter tears a fleece into several sorts. *' He will rapidly break off the coarse skirts for one sort ; then the head, and, perhaps, if the fleece is a cross between a native and some fine wooled sheep, he will discover a coarse streak running down the nape of the neck nearly to the shoulders. This also he breaks out, and places with the sort to which it belongs. The shoulders yield the finest sort of the fleece, and the sides a sort below. In this way each fleece is broken into at least three and often five dif- ferent sorts. A large factory has generally as many as eight clothing sorts, to which, where worsteds are made, are added as many long sorts — combing and delaine. On the sorting board the fleece loses its former identity. It is no longer known as fine, XX, half-blood, or by any other familiar name. Each fleece is resolved into first, second, third, etc., down to the bottom. The shoulder of the quarter blood rests in the bin with the skirt of the full-blooded fleece, and the skirt of the half blood may mingle in yarn with the shoulder of a common fleece. So unerring is the discernment of the best sorters that under microscopic tests it has been demonstrated that they can assort fibers as to fineness within a ten-thousandth of an inch." — American Slieep Breeder. In the Merino fleece, the wool on 1 and 2 in the diagram (Fig. 3), is finest, longest, and strongest ; 3 and 12, short, but close ; 4, rather longer, a shade lower than 3 ; 5 and 6, slightly coarser, not so close, and apt to be weak in fiber ; 8, lower still, and termed the britch or breech ; 7, good length, but slightly lower in quality than 1 and 2 ; 9, shorter, and loses vitality as compared with better parts ; 10, short and generally frowsy ; 11, shorter than 12 ; 13, the cap ; dry and harsh ; 14, fribby, and and of little value ; 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14 constitute the skirt To economize the number of sorts, is very injudicious ; as good, even sorts cannot be made without strict adherence to the division of the fleece into its separate parts, so as never to allow the ridg(^ to adhere to the shoulder, or similar errors. Exception may be made in cases of high-bred wool, up to seven-eighths blood and above, as here the distinction is so FOE WOOL AND MUTTON. 31 trifling between the shoulder and other parts that a mere skirt- ing is needed. Grades of Wool.— There are two great divisions into which wool is graded — carding, or clothing wool, and combing wool. The clothing staple may be very much crimped, and very short, since the fibers are mingled in every way by the cards, leaving the ends to project in a nap wliich conceals the warp and woof ; but combing wool should be long and straight, since the fibers are to be laid side by side, end to end, and spun into yam for 'Fig. 3.— niAGKAM OF FLEECE. worsted goods. The finer the fleece the shorter the staple which can be used for combing. A coarse combing wool ought to be six inches long, while a fine XX staple only two inches long could be combed, though it should be two and one-half. Coarse fleeces are not graded vciy closely, while fine fleeces are subjected to closer grading. A staple an inch and a half long could be worked upon French combs ; but for English machin- ery, the length of the staple must be determined by the machines following the combs. The ability of a Noble comb to handle short wool is not the guide for the buyer of wool for the Eng- lish system. The good qualities of pure breed, soundness and evenness of wool, from well-fed and carefully handled j^oung sheep, allow a margin in selection in favor of the minimum. 32 THE AMEKICAIT MEEINO length of staple. A diagram will help to an understanding of this subject : Superflue | ^XXX^' [ Saxony. v:v,^ \ 10 per cent, combing (delaine) I XX. ) -.r^ • line — ] 25 " ». ^ u M ^ ^Merino. ■Kx^^i.,^ ) 50 per cent, combine ( No. 1. I Quarter - blood and Medium|75^ " '• ' ] No. 2. r Downs. Coarse- [ Cotswold, Leicester, Combing. \ Lincoln. Carpet. [-Chourro. Whence these Grades Come.— Picklock and XXX are now confined almost exclusively to Washington coimity, Pennsyl- vania, and the "Pan-handle," where a few flocks are still care- fully bred, yielding the Electoral or ' ' noble " wool. In the last three decades, the amount of Saxony has much decreased, while the proportion of fine and medium to the whole product of the nation, has vastly increased, owing to the spread of the American Merino. Occasionally, a Merino fleece grades XXX ("XX and above" is intermediate), but here a touch of Saxon blood may be suspected. The greater part of American Merino wool grades XX, and of this the best samples come from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The grade known as X is generally obtained from the full-blood Merino of Wisconsin and Michigan, and also from the finer crosses (half-blood and above), though the latter are often graded into "combing,' and designated as delaine. Central Wisconsin has many choice delaine flocks ; those of Messrs. Eich & McConnell, of Ripon, have yielded staples four and seven-eighths and four and five-eighths inches in length., respectively. Michigan wools long suffered from the same faults as those of Vermont and Western New York, short and gummy ; but lately much improvement is manifest, and they often rank with the best Ohio. Missouri now furnishes a considerable quantity of combing wool, the Merinos of that State having b^en crossed on the large native stock. The greater part of No. 1 and No. 2 now como from this cross. Kentucky yields a large percentage of comb- ing wool. Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado wools have greatly improved in the last decade ; they now fall only five to ten cents the scoured pound, behind the best Ohio. California and Texas wools rarely ever yield any combing wool, but would do BO, were it not for the semi-annual clippings. At the close of the war, Texas wool was fit only for carpet filling or. at best, for coarse blankets ; nov/ there are large flocks that grade up FOR WOOL AND MUTTON". 33 to X, and above. Twenty years ago, Santa Fe wool was fit only for carpets or horse blankets ; but the introduction of Merino blood has raised the grade up to No. 1 and low X. Montana fleeces are the best of the whole Territorial clip. A considerable combing and delaine wool comes from Oregon and Washington Territory. Vermont always furnishes a class of wool which will yield a large percentage of fine combing, together with a good deal of unwashed and un-merchantable. Effect of Climate ox the Fiber. — It was the opinion of Dr. Randall, that a hot climate, with its consequent rankness of vegetation, would coarsen the fiber of sheep taken to it from a colder region. This opinion does not appear to be sustained by modern investigators. Mr. G. W. Bond, an eminent expert of Boston, exhibited to a scientific society some skins of Arabian sheep ; some of them covered with hair alone, and others with similar hair, but having a thick undergrowth of wool, which proved to be as fine as the finest Saxon. Mr. Mark R. CockeriLl imported some Saxons in 1824 or 1826, and kept them in Missis- sippi (Madison County), a quarter of a century. At the World's Fair, in London, 1851, samples of their fleeces were brought into competition with German wools. The latter were recognized by the jury as the finest and longest on exhibition, but those of Mr. Cockerill received two prize medals, of the same grade as German, and were reported by the expert employed by the jury "as most approximating to the character of Gei*man wools.' Mr. Graham, the author of a popular hand-book on Australian sheep, states it was the general belief that the climate of DarUng Downs, a region within the tropics, was too hot for the growth of good wool ; but that the superintendent of the Clyde Com- pany, by a " careful and judicious system of selection," suc- ceeded in producing " as good wool as any grown in Austraha, although it still bore the name of hot-country wool.'" Effect of High Feeding. — Prof. Sanson, an eminent zooto- mist of France, in a report to the French Academy of Sciences, which is perhaps the highest scientific body in the world, gives the following summary of the results of his investigations on this subject : " 1. The precocious development of Merino sheep, having the effect to carry their aptitude to produce flesh to the highest de- gree that sheep can attain, exercises no influence on the flne- ness of their wool. This preserves the diameter which it would have had it developed in normal conditions, for the reason that 34 THE AMERICAN MERIKO tliis diameter depends upon the individual and hereditary- aptitudes. 2. The influence exercised by the precocious development upon the hair of the wool exhibits itself by an augmentation of the length of the same hair ; its growth, resulting from the formation of epidermic cellules in the hair-bulb, being more active. There is, therefore, more woolly substance produced in the same time. 3. The precocious development does not vary the number of hair or wool bulbs existing for a determinate extent of the sur- face of the skin. It produces, therefore, no change in what is vulgarly called the tasse (density of staple). The modifications which the staple of wool presents in this respect are only ap- parent. By increasing the length of the hairs, the precocity necessarily increases that of the locks of wool which they form, which makes the fleece appear less dense." To sum up all in a word, high feeding increases the length of the staple and the secretion of yolk, but not the diameter of the fiber, or the number of fibers to the square inch of skin. Very high feeding, or pampering, increases the yolk in a geometrical ratio to the fleece. This ought to operate as a safeguard for the protection of the sheep from this pernicious practice ; but it does not wholly, for, unfortunately, the " big fleeces " of the fairs and pubhc shearings are always weighed "in the gi-ease," instead of scoured. The cliief defense instituted by Nature against this evil of pampering is, that sheep so treated often suddenly and mysteriously die. Length and Density. — A fiber two and a half inches long which is perfectly sound and true, is better every way than one which is three inches long, but has a -'joint" or weak spot caused by poverty or sickness in the animal, which will cause one-half inch to break off in the combs. It is better, because the existence and nourishment of the sheep during the growth of that half inch cost something, while that half inch is prac- tically a total loss to the manufacturer, and tends to discredit both the fleece and the grower. No one will dispute the proposition that it should be the cardinal object of the wool-grower to produce a sheep having the greatest possible number of fibers to the square inch of skin, and those fibers of the greatest possible length. The striving for the attainment of either of these objects has more or less tendency to defeat or repress the other ; yet not so much as a FOR WOOL AlfD MUTTO:?^. 35 certain school of breeders would have us believe. Density, though the expression of an exceedingly valuable constituent of the best fleece, is an illusiTe term, or perhaps more accurately, a term liable to be misapplied. When a fleece on the back of a sheep is grasjyed in the hand and offers a firm resistance to com- pression, presents a good handful, it is called dense by super- ficial men, without further examination. But it may not be true density at all ; it may be yolkiness carried to the exagger- ated state. A fiber is entitled to so much yolk as will thor- oughly lubricate it from end to end and make it glisten ; but this substance should not collect iu lumps. A fleece with a fiber three inches in length, may carry as much weight of yolk as one of only two inclies, yet not feel or be pronounced by the award- ing committee as " dense" as the latter. Strength of Dry and Yolkt Wools. — Some years ago I addressed inquiries to a number of experts, as to the compara- tive strength of dry and yolky wools ; and, contrary to my pre- vious belief, they all replied that yolky wools are the stronger of the two. The explanation of this seeming paradox is this : Grood feeding makes good wool, and it also makes yolk. Where you find a yolky flock of sheep^ you are almost certain to find a liberal feeder and a pains-taking shepherd. The burden of yolk, especially if it is collected into pasty lumps, is distasteful to the manufacturer, and causes a higher percentage of loss in the scouring-tub ; but at the end of the cleansing process, w© are tolerably certain to find a staple true and sound. The wools on the Vermont side of the Connecticut river, are much more yolky than those on the New Hampshire side ; but the New England manufacturers are well aware that they are stronger. Vermont wools lose most in the scouring-tub ; New Hampshire wools most in the cards or combs. A certain amount of yolk conduces to soundness and strength by protecting the fiber from dust, alkali and rain. COTTING. — We shall perhaps best arrive at a definition of first-rate Merinp wool by a statement of the faults which are liable to occur in a fleece. Getting generally develops itself in the winter, as a result of a diseased condition of the sheep, and when shearing-time comes the animal is pronounced '* fleece- grown." Some part or all of the fleece is completely fulled or matted together, so that it can be thrown about or held up by one lock as if it were a pelt. But, as the sheep has by this time generally recovered from its iUness, most of the fibers will be 36 THE AMERICAi^T MERIXO found to have parted from the body, and the fleece will be clinging to the skin by a veiy few fibers, so that the shearer can strip it off rapidly. Such a fleece has a very low value, and it is a clear fraud to throw it into the pile and attempt to sell it for sound wool. The nature of the felting quality has already been explained, and this unnatural felting is caused by the diying-up of the yolk-glands from disease. When we consider the innumerable particles of dirt, chaff, seeds, etc., which fall upon the fleece in a year, it is wonderful what a clean, bright interior is exhibited when we open up the unwashed fleece on the sheep's back in the spring. The useful purpose of the minute barbs, or free edges of the cortical scales is manifest ; without them the fleece would become a mass of filth. The most frequent cause of cotting, the ammoniacal exhala- tions of an uncleaned stable, will be further discussed in a sub- sequent chapter. Black-Top and Clots. — A perfect Merino fleece will show the crimp to the extreme outer end of the fiber ; it is needless to remark that there are not many perfect fleeces. There are two kinds of indurations: one is called the "Black-top," and the other may be designated as the " Gray Shoulder-Clot." The Black-top, extends the whole length of the fleece, being densest along the back-bone, and extending down the sides moi-e or less, to the belly. In some sheep, the Black-top renders the fleece almost water-proof ; during the summer no amount of rain will dissolve the gummy, pasty, tar-black sheeting of the fleece, or wash this down into it, as common yolk is washed. In the summer, this gummy top is soft to the touch, but in winter, especially if the animal is confined, and allowed little exercise to warm its blood, it becomes separated into homy lumps, each one tipping a lock of wool, and as hard as a board. Though bad enough, this is not so objectionable as the gray Shoulder-Clot. Tliis is more pronounced on the shoulders or withers, but frequently extends half-way down the shoulders, and more or less along the backbone. Sometimes tliis seems to be a constitutional defect, but generally it is caused by poverty ; the circulation of the blood is so feeble, where the shoulders are sharpened thin, that Liiere is not enough animal heat to keep the yolk liquid. The rain disorganizes and de-vitalizes the yolk, washes away the softer parts of it, and the residuum coagulates, and gums the locks together. In a short-fibered fleece (and they FOE WOOL AND MUTTOi^. 37 generally occur in this sort), the locks will be glued together for the outer half of their length, and so hard as to require a hammer to break them down. A sheep with these clots in its fleece ought to be rejected from the flock ; they are an abomination to the manufactui-er. "Jar."— This is properly grare, but "Jar "seems to be per- manently incorporated into the shepherd's vocabulary. It is simply hair, but it is hair of the worst kind ; wild, coarse, and frizzly, utterly refractory in the cards, combs, and dye-tub. It is of tenest seen on rams, on the outer surface of neck-folds, and less frequently on the side-folds and hips. In Cotswold sheep and Angora goats, it occurs on the hips, and is called " Kemp." Jar is not found on a feeble sheep, it is an excrescence of a vigorous animal. Though highly objectionable in itself, it marks a very desirable quality ; a good constitution. Unless it is excessive (short, curly jar is the worst), and the ram is im- perfect otherwise, the breeder need not trouble himself much about it, as it seldom occurs on ewes and wethers. He could afford to throw away part of the ram's fleece for the sake of his constitution. "Jointed" Wool. — Whatever keep the shepherd gives his flock, good, bad' or indifferent, it ought to be regular. Amid all the conflict of opinion among wool-growers, as to the effect of different feeds on the staple, one thing is certain : regular feeding makes a true (even) fiber. To employ a somewhat fanciful illustration, the fiber is a delicate rod on which every attack of disease, every protracted spell of liunger cuts a notch, and thus weakens it. The reason is obvious. Like every other part of the body, the wool is nourished by the blood. If there is a lack of feed for a day or two, or an attack of disease, the blood becomes impoverished to that extent, and secretes in the wool-follicles less matter for the building-up of the fiber. It is an erroneous belief of some flock-masters, that a period of starving or disease weakens the staple along the whole length. This can not be. As previously described in this chapter, the fiber grows by the continual formation of new cells at the bot- tom. Every day's growth is a complete and finished product ; nothing that can happen afterward can change its diameter or structure. When the sh^e:) dies, the fiber stops growing, but so long as fife lasts, it must keep growing, only in a case where the blood is impoverished, it can not furnish the usual quantity of matter, and there is a weak place formed. 38 THE AMERICAJ^" MERIKO In the Far West, a heavy snow covering the grass for several days, sometimes weakens the fibers so that most of them break near the skin, from their own weiglit, and the fleece falls off. Clouded Fleeces. — The first choice of fleece roUs off from the shears elastic, voluminous, and white as snow ; the second choice is a rich buff-yellow, or golden tint. Fleeces from the prairies or the adobe flats of California are stained dark by tho soil. In East Tennessee they are reddened with clay. Bat sometimes there are fleeces shorn from sheep that are kept on the cleanest soils, and with the greatest care, that are disfigured by large saffron-colored, or lemon-colored patches along the back and down the sides. These may be produced by rain-water trickling down through straw-roofed sheds, which, for this reason, are a nuisance. But generally, there is no other assignable reason than a disordered circulation of the blood, consequent upon a lack of exercise and an irregular system of housing. If an attempt is made to house a flock through the winter, it ought to be carried out. Sys- tematic exposure is better than a housing from one storm, and a wetting in the next. These cloudy places do not necessarily injure the staple, but they detract from the beauty and salable- ness of the fleece. Mold. — Energetic flock-masters, especially in the Far West where they have vast flocks to handle, are sometimes tempted to push on the shearing, when the sheep are wet with rain or dew. This is a grave error. The dry parts of the fleece will not absorb the moisture sufficiently to prevent mold, and this is justly offensive to the manufacturer. The wishes of the manufacturer are generally based on sound business consider- ations, not emanating from caprice, and the farmer is bound by his own interest to give them reasonable attention. Stuffing, Strings, Etc. — American flock-masters are too prone to stuff their fleeces with unwashed, with tags, dead wool, parts of rams' fleeces, here a little, there a little. Our national record in this regard, falls below the Australian, even below that of the Argentine Republic. The buyer or commission agent in the country, may pass this matter over lightly, fear- ing to estrange his men ; but he knows that here is a sure menace of claims and discounts, and so quietly operates to cover, if he can. The buyer for the mill feels that here is a point where his vigilance, though sleepless, may be entirely inade- quate. The following figures relate to wools carefully selected FOR WOOL AKD MUTTOK. 39 I. to avoid burrs ; the " Fribs " include all locks too short for comb- ing, taken off before skirting, but not the skirts themselves. The yield of two million pouads of American washed combing \ fleeces, mainly from Ohio (one million pounds being Ohio fine delaine), sorted in one year in a worsted mill, was over one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of fribs, twenty thousand pounds of buriy clips, and twelve thousand pounds of strings ; all of this was paid for, of course, as combing wool. The same treatment, the next year, of three hundred and thirty-four thousand pounds (one-sixth the quantity) of Australian un- washed Merino and Cross Bred wool, yielded four thousand pounds of fribs, six hundred of burry clips, and less than one huudred pounds of strings. If done up as the American wool was, this Australian lot would have contained twenty-five thousand pounds of fribs and two thousand pounds of strings. Burrs, Thistles, Etc. — Burrs, thistles and tar-marks, are more objectionable than the same weight of natural yolk. Scouring may take away all the yolk, while some remains of the former may obstinately resist all machines and all treat- ment, and appear as an incurable defect in a high-priced fabric. Besides this, the labor of the sorter (who generally works by the pound), is greatly increased by burrs, thistles, etc., and they may thus prove a tax that is a serious inroad upon his wages. Unevenness — One of the greatest errors the farmer can commit is, to grow mixed sheep. If it were profitable to grow carpet wools at all, it would be better for him to have a flock of carpet-wool sheep, rather than one containing some coarse, some medimn, some fine, some superfine ; because the clip would all practically grade and be sold as coarse, while the maintenance of the fine-wooled sheep, would be more expensive than that of the coarse-fleeced. Still worse than this mixed flock, is a mixed sheep; that is, one, which from ill-judged attempts at crossing, has a coarse streak running down the nape of the neck, or one, which from mismanagement in breeding, has white and long wool on the shoulder, but short, yellow and frowzy wool on the belly. It is the crowning excellence of the pure-blood American Merino, that it has wool very nearly of the same length all over the body. 40 THE AMERICAH MERIKO Sectional Prices of Wool. — The following table shows the prices of wool at the date j2:iven, in different parts of the United States, with some foreign kinds : Chicago, Oct. 20, 1884. WASHED FLEECES. Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. XX and above 34 @ 36 X 32 (cd iiS No. 1 32(^34 No. 3 39 @ 31 Common 24 (a) 26 New York, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. X and above 26 @ 30 No. 1 30 @ 33 No. 2 and Common 23 @ 28 >.^-il:^^ Combing and Delaine. -,■ . r @ 38 Washed Fine Delaine 33 Washed Medium 34(a)37 Washed Coarse 36 (gi 30 Unwashed Medium 24 @ 26 Unwashed Coarse 20 (c^ 24 Pulled Wools. New York City extra New Yorl< Citv super New York City Lambs . . . . Eastern and Country extra. Eastern and Country super. Western extra and super.. . .2.5 @ 30 .38 @ 33 .25 @ 30 .bO @ 33 .33 @ 35 .23 @ 27 UNWASHED. Indiana., Missouri and Kentucky. Briqht. Fine f?0 @ 22 Medium 23 (ci) 26 Coarse 19 @ 21 Kansas, Nebraska and Territory. Choice. Kansas and Nebraska Fine 17 (<^ 18 Kansas and Nebraska Medium 18 (d) 20 Utah and Wyominc: Fine 18 (cd 20 Utah and Wyoming Medium 20 (cd 31 Montana Fine 30 (a) 33 Montana Medium 23 (^ 3t Nevada 17 (a), 80 Colorado and New Mexico Fine 17 (ob 18 Colorado and New ^loxico Medium. . .18 (S) 19 Coarse and Carpet 14 (cb 16 Black 14 @ 16 W-vf^-^i.'. . Ordinm'y. 17 (a 19 19 (a 3d' ^' - ^ 17 @ 19i; .^o-A A verage. 15 (a)'l6 16 (3) 18 15 (® 17 17 (a 30 18 (a 30 30 (ih 31 13 (S 15 15 (fb 17 16 (d) 18 13 (a 14 13 @ 13 FOE WOOL AND MUTTON. 41 Texas. Choice. Fine Eastern f 20 Medium Eastern § | ~1 Fine Western g ■{ Iti Medium Western _Ph Improved Mexican ^"^ [15 22 17 18 16 Average. 17 (ci) 18 18 @ 20 14 @ 15 15 @ 16 13 (cd 14 California, and Oregon. Spring Clip, Northern 20 @ 24 Spring Clip, Southern 15 @ 18 Spring Clip, low grades and burry 10 (a) 15 Fall Clip, Al 10 @ 13 Fall Clip, low grades and burry 9 ({^ 10 Valley Oregon, A 1 21 @ 23 Valley Oregon, A 2 21 (cd 23 Eastern Oregon, A 1 16 @ 19 Eastera Oregon, No. 2 16 @ 19 Georgia, Lakb, Etc. Georgia 22 @ 23 Lake 21 @ 22 Virginia Medium 26 @ 28 Virginia Coarse 20 (^ 23 Foreign \^ cols. Cape of Good Hope 27 @ 28 Montevideo 29 @ 31 Australian 34 @ 33 Wool Production. — The following table, prepared from es- timates of Mr. James Lynch, of New York, shows the recent enormous development of sheep husbandry beyond the Mis- sissippi : Yea7'. ^yashed. Bockj/ Moun- tains* Texas. Southern. Aggtegate. i«r7 14n.ono.000 ii.oon.nno 7.000,000 2.00". 000 160.000,000 iv.« . . . I50.ono/'0n lf5.000.OiW 8.000,000 3.000.000 177,( 00.000 1869 134.000.000 17,250.000 7.000,000 3,000.( 00 162,250.000 1S70 130,000.000 23,000,000 7,00(1,000 3.030.( 00 103,000,001) 1S71 11 0.000. nno 25. 000. nno 8.000.000 3.000.000 146.000.000 1872 120,000.000 27,000.000 9,000,000 4.000 000 160,0(0.000 1873 12.-, 000. 000 37.200.000 9.000,000 3,500.000 174, 7( 0,000 1874 120,000 000 1 44.500.000 10.nP0.(K:0 3,500.000 178,000.000 1875 125.0(>0,000 52.000,000 12,000.000 4,000,000 193,000,000 1876 110.000.000 70,250.000 13 000.000 5.000,000 198,250.000 3877 117,000.000 70,250,000 14.000.000 7,000.000 208,250,000 f *Including Pacific Slope. The following^ record of the quarterly average prices of Ohio clothing wool (the best average product of American Merino 42 THE AMEBICA]S^ MERIXO grades), as sold in the Boston market during the last seventeen years, is furnished by Mr. George William Bond, of Boston : Year. January. Avail. July. October. ISfifl $0.60 «0 50 f 0.40 1 ' $0.52 $0.45 $0.40 $0.55 $0.50 $0.40 1 $0.50 $0.45 $0 40 18«)l 45 40 37 45| 37 32 40 35 32 47 47 58 1862 *62 *74i ■ > ■ • . . . * *50 *76 ♦79 ... *47 ♦73* *83* • • • • *58 1863 *70 i8(;4..'. ■ a ■ • *1.03| 18)5 i.()2 1.00 9(j 80 80 75 75 73 65 75 75 65 18t)6 70 65 5i) 65 60 48 70 67 60 63 60 56 1867 68 53 50 60 55 50 55 49 45 48 46 40 ISttS 48 43 38 50 48 45 46 45 43 48 48 45 18fi9 50 48 50 46 48 44 .nO 50 48 47 4y 40 48 46 48 45 47 43 48 48 48 48 46 1870 45 1871 47 46 43 50 52 47 62 60 55 63 62 58 1«72 70 67 66 80 8i) 76 72 70 65 66 60 57 1873 70 68 65 56 53 48 50 48 44 54 53 47 1874 58 54 47 56 5t) 47 53 53 46 M 54 47 1875 55 56 47 54 52 46 52 49 46 48 50 42 1876 48 52 42 46 49 40 38 35 31 45 40 38 *Averag e pric e. The Boston record of Ohio wool prices, from the same source, is, from 1840 to 1861, as foDows : Tears. Fine. Middle. Long. 1810... 1841... 1842*. 1843... 1844 .. 1845... 18^6... 1847... 1848... 1849... 1850 . . , $0.45 50 $0..36 45 50.31 40 41 35 42 37 361 30 34 30 47 40 32 28 41 37 47 42 30 •m 26 2Gi 3) 21 32 36 Tears. 1851. 1852. 1853 1854. 1855. 1856 1857 1858 1859 18()0. 1861 Fine. Middle. $0.41 $0.38 49 45 55 50 41 36 50 42 55 47 56 47 53 46 58 47 54 47 45 45 Long. $0.32 40 43 32i 34 37 41 36 * 35 37 50 ♦Price all round, 3^ to 35 cents. These tables show that long wool (from the mutton breeds), has shared iu the fluctuations of fine ; has risen and fallen with considerable uniformity, when the latter has done so. The amount of fine or Merino wool produced in the world, since the settlement of Australia and the American Territories, has in- creased enormously out of proportion to coarse wool ; yet the price of the former has nearly held its old percentage of super- iority in the general decline. In other words, the addition of two hundred million Merinos to the world's flocks, has de- pressed the price of their wool very little more proportionately, than the addition of twenty-five million mutton sheep to the FOR wool, AXD MUTTON. 43 world's supply has reduced the price of long wool. If Merino wool can endure this vast expansion, and hold its own under it so well, what may we not expect of it in the future ? I will add a brief table, giving a comparative view of wool and cotton, showing that wool has declined little more in three- quarters of a century, than the great staple of the South : Tear. Wool Pi-ice in Boston. Cotton P rice in Boston. 1801—' 5... ....$ .37 @ S 45.... ....19 @ 23 1806— '10... .... 1.00 @ 2.00.... ....14 (^ 22 1811— '15... • • • . ^.\)\J ..•••.••••••• ....10.6 @ 16.5 1816— '20... No record. ....17.4 (& 33.8 1831-';i5... .... 60 ....11.8 @ 20.9 1829— '30... .... 38 @ 70 ....10.4 18.Si— '35... .... 60 @ 70 .... 17.45 1840— '41... .... 46 (^ 52 .... 9.50 1845- '46... .... 36 @ 45 .... 7.87 laoO '51... .... 41 @ 47 ....12.14 1855 '56... .... 40 @ 60 ....10.:.0 1860— '61... .... 45 @ 60 ....13.01 1865-'G6... .... 70 @ 1.02 ....43.20 1870— '71... .... 47 (^ 48 ....16.95 1875-'76. . . .... 48 @ £5 1885 .... 33 y 3li ....iiVie CHAPTER IV. BLOOD. Blood, breeding, and feed, are the three great factors with which the wool-grower, by judicious comb nation, can work out success. Money will buy blood, but breeding and feeding require art, or at least skill. The superficial thinker, might therefore conclude at once, that blood is of less importance than either of the other elements. This view is erroneous. Blood is the outcome of the breedmg and feeding of a hundred years — in the Merino, of a thousand, or for aught we know, of two thousand years. Hence, with money we can buy the labor and skill of thirty generations of men. Certainly it would not be the part of wisdom to neglect to do so. In a race of high antiquity, whose characteristics have long been established, blood is of higher proportionate value than in 44 THE AMERICAN MERINO a breed of more recent origin. In the latter, blood is of less value, except as it is of individual excellence. Full-Blood and Thoroughbred. — In popular language these terms are synonymous. When used in reference to horses, there is a well-defined difference between them, which it would argue ignorance to neglect. Some writers seek to establish a differ- ence also, when they are used in relation to sheep and in this way : A full-blood is one in whose veins there is no admixture or stain of any other blood but the Spanish, while a thorough- bred, is all that and something more. A sheep may be a full- blood (pure-blood would be a better tenn), and yet be so de- ficient in form or fleece, as to be unfit for a breeder. But a thoroughbred, is the outcome of a long line of ancestors, which, beginning with pure blood, have been so consummately molded by man to a special purpose, that this last and finished product is, so to speak, incapable of begetting or bearing a progeny different from itself. While these ought to be, and with ac- curate men are the definitions of the two terms, in popular usage they are not. All hons, all tigers, all animals in a state of nature are full- bloods, pure-bloods, average types of their respective races ; but not all of them are thoroughbreds ; that is, not all of tbem are so even in all their qualities, and so sound in their constitutions, as to be able to produce progeny up to the level of the race- standard. They are weeded out by natural selection ; they are ill-formed, or weak, or lacking in cunning, and they perish in the struggle of life, leaving the best individuals behind to per- petuate the race. Under a state of domestication in which man seeks to preserve all the individuals, good and poor, he must himself conduct this selection of his breeders. Pedigree may have a very high value, or it may have none at ail. If a sheep with an unbroken ancestry of a thousand years, or two thousand years, has a very poor constitution, or a bald head, it is more likely to impart those faults to its offspring, than if it belonged to a breed of more recent origin. It may, for this reason, be even less valuable in every respect, than a high-grade. Every official Register is seriously at fault which does not require individual merit, a " scale of points," as well as unquestioned purity of blood, as qualifications for registiy. Pedigree, is like a long train of cars ; it runs with strong momentum, and it runs straight. An animal without pedigree, originating yesterday, is like a single car ; it rocks to and fro, it is hable to swing off the track. FOR WOOL AND MUTTO]Sr. 45 Breeders like to claim for their favorite stock, something akin to the Papal infallibility ; they say, in effect : Given a thousand years' pedigree in your breeding flock, and you can not get an inferior animal. But this logic can not stand. Twin rams, twin bulls, own brothers in a family, disprove it every day. Yet I would not be thought to detract anything from the transcendent value of pure blood. Often a grade of three- fourths or seven-eighths blood, sired by a strong-blooded ram, will to all appearance possess all the desirable qualities of a thorouii;hbred, and reproduce himself in his progeny ; but the next generation, or the next, or at the first ill usage, his de- scendants will " breed back " to his low original. The thorough- bred Merino produces a fleece of very nearly the same length all over tlie body, while a grade only approximates this, and that, when young and full-fed. The thoroughbred fleece is almost uniform in strength and fineness all over the body, so that a great part of it can enter into the fabric of the same garment. In 1882, Dr. A. H. Cutting, of the Vermont Board of Agricul- ture, made a microscopic examination of the number of fibers of wool on a square inch of the undried pelt of a sterile full-blood ram, slaughtered for the purpose. He reported officially as fol- lows : "The mean result of all my experiments is, that there are two hundred and seventy-six thousand, four hundred and eighty pores to the square inch, from which wool may grow, but they do not all contain a wool fiber, as the fibers per square inch are two hundred and twenty-two thousand and three hun- dred. Of course, either of these is liable to a small error, but I compared this with the ordinaiy open-wool sheep, and find that there are about thirty on this pelt, to one on the common sheep ; and yet I examined what would be called a good-wooled sheep." Such facts as are above recited, explain and make reasonable the enormous price paid for very choice thoroughbred rams and ewes. They are based on great individual prepotency, coupled to a long pedigree. No ram, however faultless in form and fleece, and illustrious in descent, could justly be valued at one thousand or two thousand dollars, until he had given proof of his own powers of transmission by actual service as a stock- getter. The Ra.m is More Than Half the Flock. — It is customary to emphasize the necessity of a careful selection and purchase of rams, bv the statement that the ram is half the brecdiag-fiock. He is more than half, as may be shown. 46 THE AMERICAN" MERIXO It is a great general law of biology, that animals in a state of domestication, and more especially when ill-fed and cared for, have a constant tendency to revert to their original condition. The frequent reappearance of "jar" is one, among several proofs of this. Under this tendency, we can breed down from a thoroughbred to a " scrub," sooner than we can the reverse. A diagram will illustrate. Thoroughbred ) Half-blood ) Scrub. ) Scrub. ) Scrub. That is, as the result of the second cross, we have, for all practical purposes, in a majority of cases, a scrub, where by the rules of arithmetic, we should have a quarter-blood. Hence, either the ram or the ewe. or both, must constantly be so selected as to breed up, else the progeny will steadily go down. Two and two do not make four — in breeding. Either the ram or the ewe must represent three, if we wish to secure a steady uniform result of four. It is more convenient, and generally less ex- pensive, to get a ram of very high standard than it is to get a flock of ewes of the same standard. Many farmers have an unjust prejudice against thoroughbred Merinos. The scarcity, and consequent high price of these animals, for many years, led to the perpetration of gross frauds. In many cases, sheep of low degree, by unscrupulous pampering and artificial preparation, were so embellished, as to be palmed off upon the unsuspecting wool-grower, as full-bloods. When they, or their progeny, were compelled to "rough it" a little (for the average wool-grower of the United States is not yet pre- pared to house and blanket his sheep all summer), they speedily collapsed, and revealed the cheat. The full-blood Spanish Merino was exposed freely on its na- tive mountains for a thousand years. The thoroughbred Amer- can Merino would do well on the deserts of the Far West, if only a plain, hardy type was selected, and judiciously acclimated. I formerly shared the general belief as to the constitutional delicacy of the thorou'rhbred ; but experience has taught rao that, if equally well-fed with the grade, it is equally tolerant of the severest weather. The Texas or California flock-master, generally holds that he must stop with a three-fourths or seven-eighths Merino, for the hard life of the plains. Let him fight clear of wrinkles, and he will be perfectly safe with a pure-blood. FOR WOOL AXD MUTTOi^. 47 CHAPTER V. BREEDING. At What Age to Breed Ewes.— There has been much heated controversy on this point -between those who believe that a ewe should bear her first lamb at the age of two years, and those who advocate three years as the proper time ; since no breeder of Merinos would bring a ewe into service at the immature age of one year. There are several points to be considered : — First : It was shown in a preceding chapter, that it is of im- portance to the wool-grower, to have the largest practicable pro- portion of young sheep in his flock, because of their greater profitableness. For this reason, it is desirable to bring into ser- vice all the ewes suited for it, as young as possible, thereby to enlarge the crop of lambs, and enable the owner to constantly weed out all the sheep that have passed the meridian of profit. Second : One of the greatest defects of the Merino ewe is her lack of fertility and prolificacy. It is a constitutional defect, to begin with, and it is augmented by very high and artificial keeping. There is no doubt that a ewe which passes her heat a considerable number of times without conceiving, is rendered thereby more uncertain as a breeder ; she is less likely to be- come impregnated when at length brought to the ram. Now, a healthy, thriving ewe, will frequently come in heat before she is a year old ; indeed, this event sometimes occurs at the age of six months. If, then, a ewe goes a whole year after her heats have begun, without conceiving, she is more likely to ''miss" at coupling, than one which is brought to the ram younger. Third: The ewe's fleece is affected unfavorably, both in bulk and in strength of fiber, by lamb-bearing ; but this de- terioration occurs equally, whether she bears her first lamb at two, or at three years of age. At any rate, the loss is greater in yolk than in wool. Fourth : The fact is unquestionable, that the greater part of the lambs bom from two-year-old ewes are smaller, weaker and harder to winter, than those born from ewes three-year-old. This is my own experience, and I think it will be corroborated by every observing flock-master. Fifth : The fact that wild animals begin to reproduce their 48 THE AMERICA]Sr MERINO kind before they are mature, and yet the race does not degener- ate, is no criterion for the conduct of sheep husbandry ; for the weaker animals in a state of nature, are relentlessly weeded out by natural selection, by the struggle for life, and the superior ones are left to perpetuate the race. Sixth: A ewe bearing her first lamb at two years old, will subsequently generally become a bettor milker and nurse, than she would be if she had been withheld from service a year longer. From all these facts, the following rules may fairly be de- duced : In the case of a large flock, especially if the supply of feed is somewhat scanty, the traveling required to collect it is considerable, and the development of the sheep tardy, it would probably not be advisable to breed from two-year-olds, unless it might be from a very few exceptional animals, attaining at two years the size and maturity commonly reached only at three. But in a small and well-kept flock, it would generally be good policy to breed a majority of the ewes at two years old (leaving a few of slower growth, a year longer), since, in this case, they would probably be as large and strong as the three-year-olds in a great flock. Still, the two-year-old ewes ought either to receive richer and more succulent feed than the older ones, or their coupling ought to be so timed as to bring their lambing season on grass. Constitution. — At the best, the sheep is a weak and frail animal. As the French shepherds graphically say : " the wool eats it." When we consider the enormous product of fleece (in the best shearers running up to the wonderful figure of thirty- six per cent, of the live weight !), what wonder is it that such a draft on its system, weakens it? It is stated by Chauveau that the weight of the secretions and exhalations from the yolk- glands and sweat-glands, in the skin of a healthy sheep, exceeds all the evacuations from bladder and bowels together I Not even the hog, with his tw^o hundred per cent, increase in fat, is so heavily taxed every day, as the well-fleeced sheep of tlie Merino breed. It is all the while literally sweating itself to death. It may almost be said of the Merino, as of the silk-worm, that the web it spins is its death. How important, then, to choose for breeders only those sheep that have robust constitutions. Without constitution, the finest- fleeced sheep ever bred, is of no value as a lamb-getter, or lamb- bearer. FOR WOOL AXD MUTTOi^. 49 Choose a Sheep With the Fewest Defects. — The art of selecting a sheep for a breeder is vouchsafed to very few men. As Darwin remarks : " not one man in a thousand, has accuracy of eye and judgment sufScient to become an eminent breeder." The vast majority of wool-growers, lacking the special gifts of Bakewell or Hammond, must be content to be able to choose fairly good, money-making animals. The great Vermont specialist might not find more than one ram in his State that would suit him ; another man (and perhaps too, a man capable of making more money), would find a thousand. The average wool-grower can not expect to ride a hobby, to ** breed to points," as does the keeper of the stud-flock, the man with special gifts for the occupation. His great safety lies in selecting the animals that have the fewest defects, that are well and symmetrically developed. In a " Lecture on Breeding Me- rino Sheep," kindly sent me by the author, Henry Lane, Esq., of Cornwall, Vt., I find the following : "The twin, three-year-old rams, exhibited and shorn by B. B. Tottingham & Son, Shoreham, at the public sheep shearing at Middlebury last spring, were in size and general appear- ance as near alike as twins generally are. The fiber of wool on one was four and one-half inches in length, on the other, three and three-fourths inches, a difference of three-fourths of an inch. The longest staple ram weighed, after shearing, one hundred and fourteen pounds, the shortest staple ram, one hundred and thirty-five pounds, a difference of twenty-one ix)unds. The longest staple, sheared twenty-three pounds and twelve ounces, the shortest staple, thirty-three pounds and ten ounces, a differ- ence of ten pounds, less two ounces. This extra ten pounds came mostly from a much denser fleece. Now, you might pos- sibly find one breeder in twenty, whose hobby was long staple, that would select the longest fleeced ram, but the other nineteen would select the one having so many good points, to be found in the shortest staple ram, and that were lacking in the other." "Fancy."— "Breeders' fancy" is not wholly to be ignored. Wool on the leg is of no value, any more than cows' hair; but it is a point of breeders' fancy — and it is something more. It is a mark of blood, and therefore it is of high value. The wool on the upper eyelid (or, rather, on a fold of akin which doubles down over the eyelid, which fold is lacking in a plain sheep), is not only of no value, but it is a positive defect ; but it is "fancy," it denotes blood, and therefore it is highly esteemed. The soft, 50 THE AMERICAN MERIXO silky face, without spot or blemish (the smallest black spot on the lip, face or ear, being objectionable), covered with wool to just such a point, making a cap rounding down with just such a a curve ; the ears woolled out just so far, with white, silky- hair the rest of the length (for a woolly ear is a bad mark) ; the precise number of wrinkles across the nose— all these are fancy points, oftimes sought after, to the neglect of substantial merit ; but they are, nevertheless, matters of importance, because they are typical. They ought to he there. They show blood, culture, a "long descent ; " they are like the almost invisible water-marks which the Government incorporates in the paper upon which bank-bills are printed, to prevent counterfeiting. Influence of the Sex. — The question whether the ram or the ewe exercises the greater influence over the progeny, also whether one determines a different set of qualities from the other, is not of the slightest practical consequence to any wool- grower, except as considered under the following heading. Pbepotency. — An animal of great force will impress itself on the offspring more strongly than one which is weaker. This power in an animal, whether male or female — for either may possess it — by which it marks its progeny conspicuously in its own likeness, is called prepotency. It is a curious fact that a fault, as, for instance, a deficient cap, or bare legs, will reappear in the lambs more persistently than a merit. It is customary to say that the ram is more prepotent than the ewe, but there are many exceptions to this rule. The ram's traits are the more generally remarked in a year's get of lambs, because he is one out of a hun- dred, chosen with the greatest care ; but if a hundred lambs, equally divided as to sex, were suffered to grow to maturity and then used as breeders, it would be found that there were, out of fifty, as many prepotent ewes as rams. But the important point is this : The ram costs lees money than the flock of ewes, is oftener changed, and is frequently about the only item of expense which the farmer is willing to incur for the purpose of bettering his stock. More than that, if the ram is inferior, his faults will be reproduced many times, while in a ewe, they will be reproduced only once. Therefore, it is more important to make a careful selection of a ram than of a ewe, un- less — which ought to be the case — the farmer is willing to ex- ercise the same diligence in selecting all the breeding stock. There is no criterion of prepotency except use. Pedigree and constitution, even form, may be present without prepotency; but FOR WOOL AXD MUTTOX. 51 the latter can hardly exist without the first two, though it may without form, since it sometimes happens that a thin-shouldered or steep-rumped or flat-ribbed ram is powerfully prepotent. Mr. George B. Quinn's " Red Legs," was an instance. The only safe rule, therefore, is to select a ram-lamb combining the three excel- lences, and then test him. A good way would be to buy no ram without some age, and a history behind him ; but to do this might be more expensive than to breed and test a number of ram-lambs for one's-self . A notable instance of a potent ram perpetuating his high type and line of excellence for generations, is seen in Hammond's "Old Black," followed by '' Wooster," "Old Greasy," "Old Wrinkly," "Little Wrinkly," "Sweepstakes," "California," "Gold Drop," "Green Mountain." Sanford's " Eureka" and "Comet," and R. J.Jones' "All Right," have each produced a valuable line of prepotent rams. Variation. — There is a law of biology, that animals under domestication exhibit more variability, a greater tendency to " sport," in their offspring, than those in a state of nature. In the latter condition, they are subject to the same influences of climate, soil, feed, and the same habits of life, from year to year, and the law, " Like begets like," goes on without interruption. But when they pass under the dominion of mind, of intellect, the caprice of man, changes of ownership, changes of habits, of feed, of climate, interfere with the sway of heredity ; and even the most ancient race will now and then suddenly throw out a scion which is a remarkable departure from the type. Thus " Sweepstakes," at a bound, surpassed his sire eight and one-half pounds in fleece, and ten pounds in carcass, and sur- passed all his ancestors at least five pounds in fleece. "All Right " went beyond all his ancestors ten pounds in fleece, and at least twenty-five pounds in carcass — a remarkable variation. Now, when such a variation in a desirable direction occurs, it ought to be carefully examined before we attach too much value to it. Does the great gain in fleece consist in yolk or in wool ? If it is principally in yolk, the variation may possess little or no value. If it is a gain in pure wool, the animal is a great ac- quisition. Variations in a useful direction ought to be carefully followed up, for thereby comes improvement. Still, it is not well to exi)ect too much, for an animal departing so far from the standard may not be able to carry his stock with him to his high pitch of excellence. He may be what the breeders term 52 THE AMERICAN MERINO an accidental sheef). The keeper of the stud-flock would by all means retain this accidental sheep, in the hope that he might produce something equal to himself, and thus take one step to- ward making this variation permanent. But the ordinary wool- grower might make a mistake, if he bought him at a price greatly above the average. It is quite possible that one hundred lambs gotten by a ram shearing thirty pounds (analogous in- stances have not seldom occured), miglit not shear as high an average as one hundred lambs from a ram yielding twenty pounds. It is the mission of the stud-keeper to experiment with these exceptional sheep ; he may develop thereby a great public benefit. We look to him to hold up the Merino standard, and to advance it constantly higher and higher. But to the average flock-master, I would repeat and emphasize the advice, before given, never to place his main dependence on a ram which has not been tested. Crossing and Cross-breeding.— Prof. W, H. Brewer has so correctly given the general results which come from crossing, that I append two paragraphs from his writings : "I know of no case where a new breed has been made of two well-defined breeds, the new breed having the excellences of the others, or even the excellences of the first cross. It is a common ex- perience, not only as you have shown with sheep, but with cat- tle, with horses, with everything so far as I know, that while the first or earlier crosses are reasonably uniform, successive crosses vary greatly. Numerous new breeds have been formed by the crossing of several older ones. Noel's experiments on the old French breeds of coarse-wooled sheep are interesting. The formation of the English thoroughbred horse from three or possibly more distinct branches of the Oriental horse ; that is, the Arabian, the Turk, and the Barb. The Poland China Bwine, so called, from several earlier and perhaps ill-defined breeds, and so on. Numerous examples can be given of new breeds being formed from the crosses of several, and then by long-continued selection of animals having the desired qualities, from three several breeds ; but I know of no example where this has been done with only two breeds in the original stock. "Again, it is a common experience, particularly in breeding for flesh (but it is true of all characters), that in cross-bred ani- mals for one or two generations, the cross breeds may be better .as animals of use than either of the present stocks. But uhis FOR WOOL AifD MUTTON". 53 excellence cannot be maintained with sufficient uniformity to insure profit. In truth, the whole and sole reason of the enor- mous prices which thoroughbred animals of various kinds bring of a long-proved pedigree, is not because of the superior excel- lence of those animals themselves as animals of use, but simply because their characters are transmitted^ and that of equally good mongrels are not. The crossing of different breeds of pheep for mutton or for particular grades of wool, will long be continued, and is very profitable in many directions ; but it is only profitable, so far as I have been able to hear, where these rules are obeyed, and we frequently go back to the pure breed on one side or on the other, or on both, for keeping up the excellence." The celebrated Improved Kentucky breed was formed by the union of the native sheep with the Merino, the Leicester, the Southdown, the Cots wold and the Oxford-down. This is con- sidered one of the established and permanent breeds of the United States, capable of propagating itself with the certainty of the average thoroughbred. The even more celebrated Cross-bred sheep of New Zealand, are the result of a combination of the Merino, the Leicester, the Lincoln and the Cotswold. A recent writer in Agriculture, a London newspaper, after describing the breed, adds : '•What to the practical breeder is still more interesting, is the fact that efforts have been so far successful as to establish large flocks in which uniformity is as prominent a character- istic as in the average of either of the breeds from which they spring. At the time of my visit (December and Januarj^) these had all been sheared, so that I was unable to see the fleeces out- side of the storage lofts, but from these I was enabled to pro- cure samples seven inches m length and exceeding in fineness anything I had deemed possible from such a cross, while much of the lustre so esteemed in combing wools was preserved. This cross-bred sheep is now so ' fixed ' in type that breeding animals are bought and sold with the same faith that they will reproduce with the uniformity attaching to the recognized breeds." Crosses between the various branches of the Merino race have been, in many cases, eminently successful. In fact, the American Merino of to-day, in its incomparable excellence, is the result of a fusion of the Paular and Infantado flocks, to- gether with others, which have become so blended as to be practically one race. The ''Victor-Beall Delaine," the "Black- 54 THE AMERICAI^' MERII^O top," and the "Improved Saxony" — all of them worthy sub- families of the American, whose standing and excellence are established beyond the reach of cavil — are the result of crosses between the Spanish and Saxon. In the Eastern States, the attempted crosses between the French and American Merinos have generally resulted disastrously ; but in Southern California, it has been and still is, widely popular. The French gives a rangy carcass, and long, but rather coarse fiber, while the American braces up thiu somewhat shambling anatomy, with a heavy bone, gives density and fineness to the staple, and a hardy, self-supporting habit, enabling the sheep, as the Western men say, to "rustle " successfully for its living. In Oregon and California the American and Australian have been bred together with highly satisfactory results. In the American Sheep Breeder, Hon. John Minto thus speaks of this cross : *' There was but little difference in the size of the two strains, and I think there would have been no perceptible difference in the yield of scoured wool of first quaUty in proportion to live weight. The Vermont sheep covered the shanks and head more and had much more oil in the fleece of a coarser quality. The Australians were more apt to give twins, and the lambs were more robust when dropped. After a few crosses none but the most expert could tell it was cross-bred sheep, the signs being preserved longest in the superior quality of the wool. One of our breeders who started with a few sheep of such a first cross, bred continuously toward the Vermont Spanish, and soon had a very uniform and very superior flock ; but classed it as pure Spanish. He sent a card of beautiful specimens to the ' Cen- tennial,' 1876, which the judges said was ' of very superior quality, much resembling Australian wool.' " As to crosses between the Merino and the English breeds, it ought to be borne in mind, that there is a radical difference be- tween crossing and cross-breeding, or amalgamation {metissage, as the French call it). The first is often profitable in special cases ; the second is found nearly always to be a mistake. The mutton breeds are not adapted to the free and wide ranging of the West ; they travel and scatter too much, and an admixture of their blood with the Merino, reduces the self-supporting power of the latter. Merinos are gregarious, while the English sheep desire to spread out widely. Another objection is, when this process of amalgamation is continued for any length of time, it destroys the uniformity of the fleece, the evenness of grade and density, which it is one of the foremost objects of the FOR WOOL AN^D MUTTON". 55 intelligent breeder to producco Then, too, the English breeds cannot withstand the summer heat and the winter rains so well as the Merino ; their fleeces are too open. Where there is special demand for cross-bred wool or mutton, the unilateral cross (that is, with a pure-blooded race on each side) will always give more satisfactory results than the cross between mongrels. On the great plains of the West, where the grower of tlie Merino flocks desires to meet a special demand, and where the soil and climate are suitable, he may advantage- ously make one cross of pure Cotswolds or Downs on his Me- rinos (preferably a Merino ram with Cotswold ewes) ; but he should be careful to keep a reserve of pure stock constantly on hand, from which to make the cross afresh each year, and sell off all the cross-bred animals as fast as they reach maturity, without breeding from them. The testimony of the most eminent wool-growers of the West, among whom may be mentioned as having spoken or written on the subject, Mr. Benj. Flint and Mr. M. D. W. Ap Jones, of Cahfornia ; Hon. John Miuto, of Oregon ; Mr. F. W. Schaeffer, of Texas, and Mr. D. H, McKellar, of Australia, is strongly against the amalgamation in this line. But in Nebraska, Mumesota, Dakota, etc., on account of their nearness to the great mutton market of Chicago, it is regarded with more favor, that is the unilateral cross. The cross between a Merino ram and a Southdown ewe, or vice versa (though the latter is not so favorably regarded by practi- cal men, since the Southdown ewe is a better milker than the Merino), produces the best mutton known, with a single excep- tion perhaps, of the little Welsh mountain sheep. It is conceded to be superior to the pure Southdown mutton. The Merino, also, crosses kindly with the Shropshire and the other middle- wools. The Merino-Cotswold, if bred beyond the first year, is apt to have an uneven, streaky fleece ; neither are the mutton qualities so good as those of the Merino-Southdown. A Cotswold ram bred upon a Merino ewe produces the most objectionable cross. The ewe has not milk enough for the large lamb, even if she is able to give birth to it ; and it grows up leggy, light in the flank, gaunt and bony. A Merino ewe once crossed upon a British ram is not likely to *' breed true " thereafter from a ram of her own race ; her progeny are apt to be marked with coarse-wool traits. In-Breeding. — This, too, is a subject which concerns the practical flock-master very little, especially since the families 56 THE AMERICA:?^ MERINO and strains of the Merino have become so numerous, and afford such a wide range to choose from. In-breeding tends to refine the bone, impair the coxistitution, and induce sterihty. Even the advocates of it virtually admit this, for they say cautiously, that breeding " too close" must not be continued too long. An eminent breeder once said : '* In-breeding was sure to produce an uncommonly good, or an uncommonly poor animal. " How- ever necessary in-breeding may be in the hands of a great specialist, to establish and perpetuate a certain desirable trait, the average flock-master had better avoid it altogether. Still, there is very little doubt, that in-breeding between the closest relatives, which are widely dissimilar (as a very yolky and a very dry-topped one), might be less injurious to the progeny than the crossing of two sheep exactly alike, but not related. Hammond recognized and acted on this principle, in keeping separate and distinct his " dark or Queen line," and his " light- colored line," between which to take out crosses. In the old Saxon flocks of southern Ohio, in-breeding used to produce the the much-dreaded ''kinky shoulder" wool. Wrinkles. — No candid breeder will deny that wrinkles are a great nuisance to the shearer. Why else do the fancy breeders, the stud-keepers of Ohio and Vermont, have to pay from twenty-five cents to one dollar for the shearing of a single ram ? 1 have known a good average shearer to 6i)end nearly half a day in getting the fleece off of a very wrinkly ram. Of course, this is an entirely exceptional case ; I cite it merely to show how obstructive wrinkles are to the shearer. But there is another respect in which they are even more mischievous in a flock which is not housed. The wool between the wrinkles, and even the skin, in hot, wet weather, becomes parboiled ; a quantity of rancid yolk accumulates there, and becomes a home for flies and maggots. A very wrinkly sheep is not fit to run in the rain. A high-bred lamb, when born, has a fine, soft, spider-web crinkle in the skin, running all over the body, which disappears in full fleece ; that is, it creates no ripple in the exterior of the fleece. It is still there, however, but gradually disappears with advancing years. But this sort of wi'inkle, so far from being objectionable, is a point of merit. A very wrinkly sheep is generally slower of development and maturity than a plain one. Thus, in a party of seven two-year- old ewes, Vermont-regiaterecl, owned by Mr. L. W. Skipton, of Washington County, Ohio, No. 159, a very heavily marked but FOR WOOL AND MUTTON". 67 58 THE AMERICAN MERINO undersized ewe, cut twenty pounds and two ounces ; while No. 163, a plain ewe, but at least ten pounds heavier than the other, yielded twenty pounds and fourteen ounces. But the pro- prietor insisted that she had beaten the wrinkly ewe for the last time. A very wrinkly sheep, seldom, if ever, yields a fiber long enough to be classed as delaine. This fact is illustrated by the high percentage of delaine wool in the clips of Messrs. R. and A. F. Breckenridge, of Brown's Mills, Ohio, who breed pure- blood Merinos notable for their plainness. On the other hand, Mr. C. C. Smith, of Waterford, is equally well-known for the heavily folded type of his pure-bloods ; but, for his out-door wool-bearing flocks, he uses rams of medium wrinkliness, and he shears also a high percentage of delaine wool. This fact, however, would not absolutely turn the scale in favor of a plain sheep over a wrinkly one, for delaine wool commands very little, if any, higher price than a clip of ordi- nary length, other quahties being equal, unless the prevaiUng type of wool throughout a large section of country is delaine. If there is a delaine "fashion," there wUl be a delaine price, but not otherwise, at least not until a time arrives when every clip is much more carefully graded and individualized than it is at present. But there is a fact which works powerfully against wrinkly Merinos ; and that is, that buyers and feeders discriminate against them, on account of the " sheepy " mutton which they yield. I am credibly informed that the butchers of Baltimore stigmatize them as " leather hides," and that prominent dealers, like S. Frankenstein and W. Finn, of that city, demand a con- cession of one-half to one cent a pound on very wrinkly sheep. In sheep highly developed, the skin accumulates on the body to such a degree that a fold sometimes forms over the eye, and causes the eyelid to turn under and irritate the ball. This has been held to be a great objection to wrinkly sheep, but it can be remedied by a simple operation. With a pair of sheep- shears a piece of skin half or three-fourths of an inch long and a quarter of an inch wide (or narrower, if the case is not bad), is snipped out of the eyelid, lengthwise of the eye, and just far enough back from the eyelashes not to interfere with their roots. The cut being shallow, very little, if any, blood will flow from it. In healing the skin shrinks, and the eyelid is turned right side out again. rOR WOOL AN^D MUTTOK". 59 CHAPTER VI. FEED. Of the three departments of sheep husbandry, the most im- portant is feeding. Blood and breeding may be compared to the field and line officers of the army, but feed is the common Boldier. And, as in all well-regulated armies the officers come up out of the ranks by promotion, so, in respect to sheep ; the blood of a thousand years, the longest and most celebrated pedigree, is after all, nothing but the outcome of good feeding. For under the term "feed" should properly be included care, management, choice of soils, etc. The skillful breeder can select an animal with consummate insight into its good points (blood) ; but he cannot change its former fleece one iota except by combination with another sheep (breeding), and especially by care and management (feed- ing). In fact, Nature makes all the changes herself ; man only supplies the conditions. Good feeding simply gives Nature or heredity a chance to do her best. The coarse grasses and the roving, careless, "rustling" life of the Far West develop muscle, but weaken the fiber, and heredity tends to perpetuate these ; but the rich pastures, the fragrant hay-racks and the faithful daily care of Ohio, produce a strong, uniform and yet fine staple. A Perfect Feed. — Nature has given us the formula for a perfect feed for the domestic animals. This is furnished in grass of different kinds, as seen by the following table, which gives the constituents of the principal pasture grasses and clover : 100 parts. Water. Albumi- noids. Fat. Carbo- hydrates. Woody fiber. Ash. Timothy 57.21 70.00 58.85 76.00 4.86 4.06 4.59 2.00 1.50 .94 .94 22.85 13.30 20.05 7.00 11.32 10.11 13.03 13.9 226 Orchard -grass Barley-grass Red clover 1.59 2.54 1.00 The red clover and the orchard grass are rather watery, as every farmer knows ; the best formula perhaps is that of the timothy. Counting the albuminoids as flesh-formers, and the carbo-hydrates (sugar, gum, starch) as fat-formers, and includ- ing with the latter half the woody fiber and all the fat (one 60 THE AMERICA^f MERINO pound of which is equivalent to 2.44 of starch or sugar), we have a total of 4.86 flesh- formers and 31.88 fat-formers. This gives an albuminoid or flesh-forming ratio of about 1:6.5. Now, if the ingenuity of man could devise a feed as good as grass, it would leave nothing to be desired. The dried grass or hay is not such a feed ; because, although -we have abstracted from it nothing but the water, its magical quaUty is gone ; it no longer possesses either the same nourishing or the same fattening properties. Most of the nitrogen of feed is in the albuminoids, and both science and experience have taught that animals must have a certain ratio of nitrogenous matter to do well. But these nitro- genous matters are the most expensive element of feed (in most cases, though the commercial value is not always correctly ad- justed) ; hence it behooves the farmer to know about what pro- portions of grain and hay it is most profitable to give to his sheep. If either the flesh-formers or the fat-formers are in ex- cess of the formula above indicated by gi*ass, the excess is practically wasted. It requires fixed amounts of oil and lye to make soap — to use a homely comparison — so it takes approxi- mately measured proportions of the above named elements to feed stock advantageously. The Basis of Feed. — First, let us consider the basis or groundwork of feed, which, of course, is always some one or more of the varieties of hay, straw, etc. : Total or- Flesh Fat Crude In 100 j^art'S. Water. Ash. f/a?iic matter. formers. formers. fiber. Meadow hay 14.3 6.2 79.5 8.2 41.3 30.0 Red clover hay. . . . 16.7 6.2 77.1 13.4 29.9 35.8 Pea straw 14.3 4.0 81.7 6.5 35.2 40.0 Bean slraw 17.3 5.0 77.7 10.2 33.5 34.0 "Wheat straw 14.3 5.5 80.0 2.0 30.2 48.0 Rye straw 14.2 3.2 82.5 1.5 27.0 54.0 Barley straw 14.3 7.0 78.7 3.0 32.7 43. Oat straw 14.3 14.0 5.0 4.0 80.7 82.0 2.5 3.0 38.2 39.0 40.0 Corn fodder 40.0 Taking meadow hay first, we find that it has 8.2 of flesh- formers to 63.8 fat-formers, or an albuminoid ratio of 1:8, which falls little below the con-ect formula. And we know from ex- perience that thoroughly good meadow hay will of itself many times support sheep in fair condition. But, taking wheat straw, we find it has an albuminoid ratio of about 1 :29, which makes it a very poor article of feed. FOU WOOL AlfD MUTTON^. 61 Grain Feeds. — To supplement .this, we must have recourse to something richer in albuminoids. By far the most common grain-feed throughout the United States is Indian com. But com itself is not rich enough to make good the deficiencies of wheat straw. The composition of one hundred parts of com is as follows : Flesh-formers, 10.0; total fat-formers (counting one part fat or oil equal to 2.44 of starch, sugar or gum), 75.8 ; woody fiber, 5.5 ; ash or mineral matters, 2.1 ; water, 14.4. In digestion the starch, sugar and gum are converted into fat or oil, and this, together with the vegetable oil existing in the feed, go to support respiration in the animal, and to the formation of fat. As to the woody fiber, it is known that a very consider- able part of it is digested by an animal which performs masti- cation thoroughly, and has a vigorous stomach. The sheep will digest half or two-thirds of it. What, then, do we find as the albuminoid ratio of corn? Flesh-formers, 10.0. Total fat- formers (sugar, starch, gum, oil=75.8 ; woody fiber, say 3.0 ; ash, 1.0), 79.8. This gives corn, therefore, an albuminoid ratio of 1:8, about. Now, let us add the wheat straw and corn together. We will suppose that one hundred pounds of com are given to the sheep along with four hundred pounds of straw. Adding together the two terms of the proportion, we find the albuminoid ratio of the corn and straw together, to be 1:18.5. Manifestly this is too poor. The sheep must consume too large an amount of straw to obtain the necessary percentage of albuminoids, the excess of flesh-formers and woody fiber going to waste, that is, passing undigested. The farmer in practice can partially remedy this by giving more corn and less straw, but he can do still better by using another kind of feed, for instance, Cotton-seed meal. The composition of one hundred parts of this is as follows : Water, 8.3 ; flesh- formers, 41.0; fat-formers, 33.4; woody fiber, 9.0 ; ash, 8.3. Of the fat formers, sixteen parts consist of oil, which is equivalent to 38 .4 of sugar or starch ; hence the total of fat-formers (adding half of the ash and woody fiber), is 64.5. This gives an albumi- noid ratio of 1 :1.57. Straw and cotton-seed meal together have an albuminoid ratio of 1 :15, which is more nearly correct than that of the straw and corn. One hundred pounds of cotton- seed, therefore, has a higher value for feeding in connection with straw (or, for that matter, with any coarse feed), than one hundred pounds of com. It will be for the farmer to determine whether it would not be good policy for him to sell his corn and buy cotton-seed. 62 THE AMERICA:Br MERIXO Value of Analytical Tables. — All these calculations as to the value of different feeds and grains, however, are like the tables of values given for commercial fertilizers. The Govern- ment or State chemist works out the value in dollars and cents of so much nitrogen, so much phosphoric acid, so much lime, etc. But there is an infinite number of soils, and an infinite variety of circumstances under which these fertilizers are ap- plied, all of which tend to bring different results and sometimes seem to belie absolutely the chemist's analysis. No judicious farmer will depend at all on these arithmetical values of hay and grain, except in this way : He will consult them to get a general idea of their comparative richness to start on, then he will adjust his feed-rations somewhat nearly as they indicate, and thoroughly scrutinize the outcome. No sea-captain will neglect his charts, but he will keep a most vigilant lookout for rocks and coasts and icebergs, nevertheless. Roots. — Probably the most remarkable instance of the dan- ger of depending on these tables without the " light of experi- ence" to guide us, is afforded by the " nutritive values " of roots. The chemist gives a turnip such a high percentage of "water," and yet we know from practice that, when given in connection with dry feed, it has such a marked value, that it is a mere waste of space to print the * ' nutritive equivalents " of roots for the guidance of a practical feeder. When taken into the sheep's stomach, there is something in the water of a eugar- beet, as there is in the water of grass, which behes all chem- istry. The chief point of excellence claimed for roots is, that they supply the amount of water which all animals need when on dry feed, in a moderate and gradual way. If cut or pulped and mixed with bran, oats, or mill-feed, they furnish a soft, semi- liquid mass, which does not irritate the coats of the stomach, and does not overload it or dilute its solvent juices as a copious draught of cold water taken all at once would be apt to do. There is force in this argument. Sheep ought to be compelled, as much as possible, to eat their feed dry, as the saliva thereby secreted and mingled with it is of far more efficacy in assisting the stomach in digestion than any juice of roots, or any other moisture could be ; still, it is undoubtedly injurious to the sheep to be obliged to drink at one time all the water it requires in twenty-four hours, especially if it is ice-cold. Roots are not so necessary for Merinos as they are for the mutton-breeds ; they are principally useful for ewes when giv- FOR WOOL AND MUTTOTnT. 63 ing milk, and for a short period before they begin. Sugar- beets, mangels, ruta-bagas, yellow turnips, white turnips, are valuable in the order in which they are here given. Mixed Feeds. — There are two cardinal principles in relation to mixed feed ; first, that mixed feeds are better than plain ; second, that all the elements of the mixture should be fed each day, instead of one element for one day or one week, and an- other for another day or week. Thus, for instance, the experi- ments at Rothamstead, England, showed that eight pounds of peas would make a pound of live weight, or six potmds of oil- cake meal ; while, of peas and oil-cake meal mixed, four and one-half pounds would suffice It is as an element of mixed feed that roots attain their greatest value. Thus, in a great majority of cases, it will be found that a sheep receiving three pounds of bright wheat straw, and six pounds of turnips per day, will increase as much in weight, or keep in as good con- dition, as another receiving three pounds of the best timothy hay ; while the latter ration will be the less expensive of the two. Amount of Feed Per Sheep.— It has been ascertained that to keep a sheep in good thriving condition, fifteen pounds of perfectly dry feed (of average good quality), is required per week for each one hundred pounds of live weight. But since hay and grain, in their ordinary condition, contain about four- teen per cent, of water, from eighteen to twenty pounds per week will be necessary, or about three pounds per day. To faciUtate digestion and prevent constipation, it would be well if an equivalent of this amount of nutriment could be expanded in bulk, so as to weigh seven or eight pounds. Practical Correlation of Feeds. — In the following table I have given the albuminoid ratios of several varieties of feed, singly and combined, as a hint to the practical feeder : Corn Oats Rye Barley Cotton-seed . . Linseed cake, Wheat bran. . Shorts Meadow hay. Clovei" hay. Wheat straw Corn fodder Ratio. 1:8 1:4.3 1:29 1:12.4 Together. 1:7.8 1:4.5 1:15.3 1:8.3 From this we see that oats and clover hay would be a com- 64 THE america:n^ merin^o bination too rich in albuminoids, some of which would be con- verted in the stomach into carbo-hydrates ; consequently the farmer who should give these feeds together would not be pur- suing an economical course, unless it was young lambs or ewes giving milk which he was feeding. For either of these classes of sheep it would be an admirable combination ; but to mature stock-sheep, or even to fattening wethers, he would do better to give meadow hay, and with it corn, or cotton-seed, or lin- seed-cake meal. Another fact revealed by this table is, that wheat bran is better, weight for weight, for young lambs and Buckling ewes, than com meal — so much better that, in most cases, it would probably pay the farmer to exchange his meal for bran, even if he had to transport it some distance. If the bran has been ground by the "new process," it is not so rich in starch as old-fashioned bran was, but richer in pro- teine. Linseed-cake meal, owing to improved machinery and the higher degree of pressure now employed in extracting the oil, has only six to nine per cent, of oil (sometimes only two and one-half), where it used to have ten to twelve. But this actually increases its albuminoid ratio (which gives it its great value) ; does not diminish the proportion of mucilage and di- gestible fiber ; and the hard-pressed cakes keep better than those which were more loosely made under the old process. Experiments in Feeding. — But, after all that the most care- ful scientific investigators may ascertain for our guidance, there is nothing equal in value to actual experience, what might be called the testimony of the sheep, M. Moll, a noted French writer, thinks fine-wooled sheep reach their best estate in the region of the vine and the mulberry. In America, I would sub- stitute for this the latitudes adapted to Indian corn. This is to the Western farmer what the turnip is to the English shep- herd. My experience for years in feeding sheep on fodder (which is better every way than fodder-corn, except for nursing ewes), has given me the highest opinion of its value for this purpose. The silk-worm-like closeness with which they pick every shred of the foliage from the canes obviates the necessity of cutting the stalks, which is an operation of dubious profitableness with the coarse "Western corn. Besides that, fodder has a most ad- mirable effect on the respiratory and circulatory systems. A horse may often be cured of a mild case of heaves by the sub- stitution of fodder for hay in liis manger. Tlius, by quicken- ing and stimulating the circulation, fodder is a better feed than FOR WOOL AXU MUTTOX. 65 hay for increasing the wool product. It is more laxative than timothy or any other hay, except clover. A perfect ration for sheep should include at least one daily feed of bright fodder ; it is far preferable to rye and (bearded) wheat straw, the beards of which are liable to cause great irritation to the coats of the stomach. One winter I fed a flock of two hundred and twenty-five young sheep, mostly yearlings, one and a half bushels of shelled corn and eighteen bundles of fodder per day. With a run of two or three hours a day on an old sod, they wintered remark- ably well. The current local price for fodder is ten cents a shock of eighty hills. Planted in rows three feet ten inches apart, there would be thirty-three and four-fifth shocks to the acre. Four bundles make a shock. The fodder on an acre is worth $3.38. The flock consumes forty-five cents' worth per day. Of corn, at forty cents a bushel, they require sixty cents' worth per day. They are fed, say, four and a half months (this will allow for the diminished ration at the beginning and end of tne season). This will make their winter's supply of fodder cost $60.75, and their corn $81 ; total, $141.75. This flock would have required three hundred pounds of hay per day, which, at $10 a ton, would be worth $1.50. Against this, the daily ration of fodder and corn cost $1.05. The best way to employ wheat straw for sheep is in connec- tion with fodder, details of wliich are given in the chapter on •'Winter Management." Mr. Arvine C. Wales, of Stark County, Ohio, who grew annu- ally about seventy acres of fodder corn for sheep, gave in The Shepherd's National Journal, the following experience : "I selected out three hundred ewes, and divided them into two lots as evenly as I could. One hundred and fifty were put into one shed, and a like number into a shed near by. Between the two sheds there was a set of stock scales. Each lot of sheep was carefully weighed at the beginning of the experiment, and were weighed again each week for eight weeks. During the continuance of the experiment I was asking questions for my own information, and had no interest except to get at the truth. One lot of sheep was fed with one feed per day of good clover and timothy hay, and one feed of sheaf oats. The other lot re- ceived two feeds of the fodder corn, which I cut up by horse- power, mixed with a bushel and a half of bran . I poured hot water over it and let it soak from morning until evening, or from evening until morning. I have not the minutes of these 66 THE AMERICAN" MERIXO experiments before me, but I remember that the sheep fed on the fodder corn showed a marked gain over the other lot. The dung was about of the consistence of that of sheep on dryish pasture. They drank very httle water, and I thought the growth of wool was healthier and stronger than that on the other lot." In the Far West the question of a feed-supply is becoming yearly of more pressing importance. Those vast regions are fitted for pastoral pursuits ; they will be the stronghold and refuge of the American Merino. But some artificial provision of feed must be made for the occasional heavy snow-storm, or else the wools of those regions will continue to be "jointed," untrue, unfit for combing purposes, and falling ten to twenty per cent, below the price they might by good management be made to command. Prairie hay is generally excellent from most localities ; not surpassed by that made from cultivated grasses. These natural meadows can be cheaply enclosed with -wire and iron posts. Great hay-barracks, like those of Northern California, holding two hundred and fifty to three hundred tons each, could be made with iron roofing and siding. If not filled in one year, they could be in two or three ; then they would be ready for an emergency. Alfalfa is full of promise to the "Western flock-master. It was the growing of Alfalfa in California which checked the flow of sheep from that State to Colorado. A hundred days' feeding on Alfalfa, with a half-pound of oats per head, daily, makes very fat sheep and exceptionally sweet, tender mutton. It will completely remove from the flesh the flavor of the Black Sage, and other offensive shrubs and plants of the West. It is sometimes slightly productive of scours and hoven, if allowed to grow too rank before the sheep are turned on it ; but lumps of rock-salt kept constantly within reach of the flock, have been found in California to be a preventive of these troubles. Ber- muda grass, so common and so dreaded by the cotton-planters of the South, has been found to succeed in alkali soil, even where the deposit was very strong — and this gi'ass is admirable for sheep. The Sheep Needs Mineral Matters. — The art of feeding takes account of all that the sheep requires to promote its health and growth. Not only the^feed, but the water must be considered. The sheep needs a large proportion of mineral FOR WOOL Ais^D MUTT0:N'. 6? matter, either in its feed or in the water. Five per cent of clean wool is sulphur ; two per cent of the sheep's urine is mineral ; thirteen and one-half per cent of the dung is mineral ; the bones contain sixty to seventy per cent of phosphate and carbonate of lime ; the yolk has a large proportion of potash, and the flesh and blood contain the following mineral sub- stances : Phosphorus, sodium, potassium, chlorine, magnesia, iron and lime. The bones of the sheep contain eleven per cent more of the carbonate of lime than those of the ox, five per cent more of the phosphate of lime, and a fraction more of magnesia, lime, potash, etc. This shows the necessity of sup- plying the sheep with mineral matters. Soft water is not so healthful and nourishing to a flock as hard water. The health- iest flock I think I ever saw was one on the Nascimiento River, in California, which had no water to drink during the six months' drought of summer, except that from some strong sulphur springs in the bed of the river. Ashes, lime, sulphur, coj)peras, in small quantities, form an excellent addition to their salt. On the great alkali plains of the Far West sheep frequently have to be kept away from alkali ponds and de- posits ; they eat so much of it as to do them harm, though perhaps they would not, if allowed to visit them often and regularly. CHAPTEE VII. PASTURE IN THE WEST. In subsequent chapters detached notes are given on the grasses peculiar to the regions west of the Mississippi ; but it may be well to present here a condensed view of the various grasses, plants and shrubs, with which the shepherd has to do throughout the United States. The grasses of the East, both wild and cultivated, generally form an unbroken turf ; but those of the remote West seem to protect themselves against the great aridity of the climate by growing in bunches or tufts, with the spaces between either naked, or overgrown with weeds. Hence the popular name, " Bunch-grass," which is extremely indefinite, describing noth- ing except the habit of growth, and applied to several different 68 THE AMERICAN" MERIXO species. The grasses of the great arid region are scanty, but are mostly sweet and nutritious, both for summer and winter grazing. A considerable part of their value arises from their greater richness in seed than the Eastern grasses. The winter aridity is so great, generally, and the stems of the grasses so stiff and strong that, when touched by frost, they do not be- come broken down by the rains and snows to decay on the moist soil, but stand firmly on the ground all winter long and *' cure," forming a sort of uncut hay. To a considerable degree, the greater or less abundance of the grasses is dependent on latitude and altitude ; the higher the latitude, the better are the grasses, and they improve as the al- titude increases. In the mid-continental region, in low altitudes and latitudes, the grasses are so scanty as to be of little or no value ; here the true deserts occur. Also, on the Atlantic slope of the Rocky Mountains (especially the eastern part of it) and on the Pacific cost, the grasses are coarser than those of the great central basin. In the prairie section, proper, the native grasses are coarse and rough ; they have to be kept closely de- pastured, or they become unpalatable to sheep. They form a very fair article of hay, often scarcely inferior to Eastern hay ; but the leaves are so harsh that they frequently give sore mouths to the sheep. These grasses are also rather susceptible to frost ; in the latitude of Southern Kansas they are generally cut o£f by November 1, thereafter becoming " dry feed." On the Pacific Coast, several of the more important grasses are noted for their rankness of growth and their prolificacy in seeds, these constituting a large share of their value. Further- more, being annuals, they depend on their seeds for propaga- tion, and the consumption of these by sheep curtails their volume from year to year. The finer and sweeter perennial grasses which are more char- acteristic of the central continental region are better suited for sheep, though the available pasturage areas are much lessened by low alkali and sandy deserts, on the one hand, and by rocky, broken mountain chains, on the other. East of the Mississippi the Blue-grass or June grass (Poa pra- tensis) is, of all the grasses, cultivated or self sown, the best for sheep, and it is likewise the most widely spread. It yields a scanty crop of hay, but it grows so early and so late, makes so tough a sod, is so ri(^h and so eagerly sought after by sheep, that it is always good policy to allow it to take possession of a considerable part of the land devoted to pasture. P. coinpressa FOR WOOL AND MUTTOX. 69 is the Wire-grass ; in Ohio it is better for pasture than the June grass. P. annua has become naturalized in many parts of the South. In Northern Texas it becomes a bright green in the fall, withstands the cold better than other grasses ; in February and March makes a strong growth and furnishes good grazing when no other grass does ; but it does not resist drought well in the summer. It is highly relished by sheep, but is so small that, it is chiefly valuable in the winter. P. serotina, False red-top, is found in Oregon and the Rocky Mountains ; eastward to the Atlantic it is common where the soil is moist. The Kentucky Blue-grass is becoming common in California and the Rocky Mountains. P. alpina is found in the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, nearly up to the line of perpetual snow. P. tenuifolia is one of the valuable bunch-grasses of the West. Timothy becomes naturalized wherever the soil and climate permit ; it is already sown and is common through the moun- tains and in irrigated districts quite across the continent. In the Far West it is too valuable for hay to be grazed much ; sheep would destroy it. Buchlo'e dactyloides is the celebrated Buffalo-grass, one of the most nutritious grasses of the West. It is short, curly, and in- creases by runners as well as by seed an A root. In Texas it is sometimes called " Vining Mesquite." It belongs to the dry and elevated plateaus from the Rocky Mountains to Kansas, and from Mexico to British America. Bouteloua oligostachya is the true Grama-grass, so called from Texas to Arizona, Southern California and Colorado, but known under other names north of Colorado, as far up as Montana. B. hirsuta is the Black Grama, with about the same range as the above, but not reaching California. Both are of the highest value, especially in Southern New Mexico and Arizona, where the " Grama Belt" is celebrated for fattening stock like grain. Andropogon scoparius, Sage-grass, Broom-grass, forms twenty per cent of the pasture in parts of Kansas, and ranges, east of the Rocky Mountains, as far south as Texas. A. furcatus, Blue- stem, or Blue-joint, constitues forty per cent of the pasture in some places in Kansas. These and others are good fattening grasses. Stipa occidentalis is a common bunch-grass in the Sierra Nevada, and S. comata in Montana. Both are valuable for sheep. Munroa squarrosa is a low, nutritious " Buffalo-grass," in the 70 THE AMERICAN MERIXO north, and a *' Grama-grass" in Texas. It originally covered tracts of thousands of acres together on the northern plains. Festuca is a very large genus, of much value, following sheep and cattle wherever they go. F. ov.'na, Sheep's Fescue, is com- mon in the cooler parts, from California and Montana to the Atlantic ; it is one of the best of grasses for sheep, and has fol- lowed them around the earth, even to New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania. Among the native species of value are F. occi- dentalis, in Oregon, and F. scdbrella, from California to the Eocky Mountains. Hilaria rigida, known as "Gallotte" or "Galletta" (perhaps the same as the " Gietta-grass " of Arizona), forms a large part of the pasture on the semi-deserts of San Bernardino County, California. It is a hard grass, but valuable. Calamagrosfis Canadensis is perhaps best entitled to the name "Blue-joint," of all the various grasses so-called. Its range is rather northerly and mountainous, from California to the Atlantic. It is a favorite grass for hay, and it stands so erect in winter that it is one of the chief supplies for sheep in a deep snow. Eriocoma cusp'data, the Sand-grass of Utah, is a very nutri- tious, valley bunch-grass. Sporobolus airoides, known in Utah as " Vilfa," is a lowland grass, remarkable for its power of taking up alkali, which gives the whole plant a salty taste. Cattle are injured by it at first, but sheep not so much. Aira ccespotosa, a red-topped grass, is found in the arid re- gion, surrounding the small lakes and tarns, sometimes at an elevation of eleven thousand feet ; it forms a continuous sod, and is a very beautiful and valuable grass. The chief grasses of the elevated timber tracts belong to the genus Bromus ; when young they are tender and good, but with ago they become tough and worthless. Agrostis vulgaris, common Red-top, follows cattle and sheep in the cooler regions ; always valuable. Atropis tenuifoUa is one of the most valuable bunch-grasses from San Diego to Oregon, and Colorado. Hordeum murinum, the odious Squirrel-grass or Foxtail-grass of C3,lif ornia. When the heads ripen they break up and the barbed seeds and awns work into the wool, and even into the flesh of sheep, in some places killing many lambs ; they get into the FOR WOOL AND MUTTOiT. 71 eyes and injure or destroy the sight. It is one of the worst vegetable pests of California. 31uhlenbergia gracillina is another of the species commonly, but incorrectly, called Buffalo-grass ; it is a low, nutritious grass, common on the plateaus from Colorado to Texas. Of clover {Trifolium) there are five species east of the Missis- sippi, while west of it there are some forty, of which twenty- five are found in California alone. Only one {T. Andersonii), is not eaten by stock. The burs of the bur-clover (Medicago denti- culata), furnish sheep a large amount of rich, oily seed, but they work into the wool and compel flock-masters to shear in the fall to get rid of them. Indeed, it is believed that sheep have thus been the vehicle for its dissemination in regions where it was unknown before. Alfileria or Pin-clover {Erodhim Cicutarium), is a valuable forage plant which follows cultivation. It furnishes a heavy swath on lowlands ; the hay is black and becomes much broken and chaffy, but is very nutritious. Over many of the drier sections of the interior, various shnibs form a notable feed in the winter. Prominent among these is the celebrated " White Sage," or, as it is sometimes called, "Winter Fat" {Eurotia lanata), which ranges from the Sas- katchawan to New Mexico, and from the Sierra Nevada to the Rocky ]\[ountains. After frosts come its quality is improved as is true of other shrubs of the same order (Chenopodiacece), and it is a valuable winter forage in many places in the Great Basin. Other species are here and there called white sage, but this is the one par excellence. The name " Greasewood " is applied to a considerable number of plants. The most common ones, however, are the Sarcobatus vermiculatus and Ahione canescens, both more or less thorny shrubs and looking most unpromising as forage, but which nevertheless have considerable value. Pursliia tridentata is also widely known as greasewood, and is eaten by stock, and so are a number of other species less common and of less value. The Mesquite {Prosopis jidiflora) grows as a shrub or small tree on the dry slopes and mesas from Texas to California, and produces a crop of sweetish pods, four, six or more inches long, and each containing numerous bean-like seeds. Both the pods and the seeds are eagerly eaten by stock, and are very nutritious. '* Sage " is a name given by the early mountaineers to the shrubby species of Artemisia found so abundantly from the 72 THE AMERICAN MERIJTO plains to the Pacific. There are many species of this genus, bitter, strong smelling, and belonging to dry regions. But the name has come to have a wider use among stockmen, and be- sides the white sage we have yellow sage, red sage, black eage, rabbit sage, etc., applied to various species of shrubs, some of which are eaten by stock in extremity, others more willingly, but taken as a whole there is not much dependence upon browse feed, except with the white sage, although in many places it forms an element not to be entirely ignored. CHAPTER VII I. A MUTTON MERINO. One of the great needs of American diversified agriculture is, a general-purpose sheep. There are few farms in the United States which would not be the better for having some sheep upon tliem. They eat the refuse feed, and they manure the ground. Sheep manure, on account of its richness in silica, will make wheat grow stout and short, with heavy heads, where other manures produce long, soft straw, and not so solid heads. It is also excellent for com. "Where clover can be started and pastured by sheep, or fed to them, almost any worn-out land can be reclaimed in a few years, Tlie Enghsh sheep in America stands on a Merino platform. The sheep of the United States are ninety-five per cent Merinos ; and they sustain the great wool and mutton substructure of the country, on which the British sheep can stand and show an ex- traordinary profit from the sale of early mutton lambs. Ho who sells lambs cuts the throat of his flock. The people of England for several years past, have had to abstain from lamb- mutton, in order to rebuild the wasted flocks of the Island. Relegating to the Merino the great foundation-work of sheep husbandry — mature mutton and wool — the breeder of the British races in this country, working on a vast body of cheap Merino ewes, devotes himself to the exceptional and necessarily suicidal industry of rearing early lambs, and makes exceptional profits. But what does the British sheep do when standing on his own FOR WOOL A^-D MUTTO"N". 73 platform ? America is a Merino country (and always will be for that matter), while England is a mutton country ; yet, accord- ing to that excellent authority, Mr. H. Stewart, the average annual revenue derived from a sheep in England is $1.17 ; in the United States, $2.16 ! This, too, in 1866, before the bars of the tariff were put up. The Cotswold and the Downs are summer sheep, but the Merino is a dry feeder. Prof. J. W. Sanborn fed twenty-three Cotswolds and eleven Merinos for fourteen days, at two different times. The first time the Cotswolds ate three per cent of their live weight, daily, and the Merinos 3.9 per cent. The second time, the Cotswolds ate 2.8 per cent of their live weight ; the Merinos 3.5. In a letter to myself, he says simply: *'Both gained similarly." This does not matter, however ; the greater gain and value of wool in the Merinos doubtless compensated for their larL;er ration. The main point is — the Merino is the better dry feeder. Mr. W. D. Crout, a feeder of many years' experience, says in the Ohio Farmer : "I feed different classes of sheep almost every winter, and find that no other sort takes to feed so kindly, and fattens so rapidly ****** if i have long-wooled sheep to feed, I invariably turn them off early in the winter ; but I beheve I have never been fortunate enough to escape hav- ing some culls from coarse sheep." In the winter of 1882-3, Hon. William G. Kirby, of Kalama- zoo County, Michigan, fattened about one thousand wethers, of which a small number were Merinos. They were shorn in April and sold for the English market. The Merinos brought the fol- lowing amounts per head ; 131 pounds wool @ 33 cents 84.54 130 pounds mutton @ 6i cents 8.12 113.66 • The account, in the American Sheep-Breeder, simply adds : •'The weights attained by the Merino wethers as given above, though exceeded by the larger mutton breeds shearing com- paratively light fleeces, were heavy enough to bring the top price, and in Mr. Kirby's opinion were grown and fed at a greater profit than any other of the one thousand head, which numbered equally choice specimens of the mutton breeds." In the winter of 1874-5, Mr. O. M. Watkins, of Onondaga Co., N. Y., fed-two hundred and ninety sheep, of which one hundred were Merinos, and ninety were Cotswolds. During 74 THE AMERICAN MERIKO January a record was kept ; the Merinos gained seven and one- quarter pounds each, at a cost of 8.4 cents ; the Cotswolds five and one-quarter each, at a cost of 11.6 cents per pound. These animals all received the same amount of feed per day, and it was all dry feed. The explanation is, that the English sheep are best adapted to the damp cUmate, the juicy turnips and the shade-cured hay of England ; the Merino to the hot, dry climate, the oily corn and the sun-dried hay of America. No one disputes the remarkable precocity of the English breeds. A Hampshire-down lamb on its native grass near Salis- bury, has increased eight-tenths of a pound daily, for a good many days together ! But the breeding of early market lambs is an exceptional, extravagant and necessarily suicidal industry. Only one man in a thousand can afford to eat spring lamb ; the vast majority of mankind who eat mutton at all, must be con- tent with the mature flesh. And for nearly half the year in America, if not the whole year, mutton can not be made so profitable in the large way (body and fleece taken together), from the English breeds, as from the Merino. We want the English breeds near our cities to furnish spring lambs, and long, coarse wool, and root-fed or grass-mutton, for export to England ; but the Merino will never cease to supply most Americans with their corn-and-hay-fed mutton. The assertion that first-rate chops and roast can not be cut from any but an English carcass, is old and womout ; and, moreover, wholly unwarranted. There is only one genuine mutton-sheep worth considering, and that is the Southdown, whose wool is comparatively fine. The coarser the fiber of the fleece, the coarser the grain of the mutton. The heavy, loose- wooled Cotswold and Shropshire produce mutton, as Lord Summerville says, "fit for such markets as supply shipping and collieries" — ham-fat and thick on the rib. The mature American Merino, with its fine-grained flesh, when it has been properly fed and butchered, yields chop, boil or roast, second only to the Southdown, if, indeed, it is at all inferior. The superiority of the Southdown, if it has any, con- sists, not in the sweetness and tenderness of the flesh, but in the thickness of the hams and the "marbling," or the distribution of fat among the lean. The idea that the wool gives taste to the flesh, either by its growth before butchering, or by its touch in the butchering, or after, is a very old one, but it is erroneous. The flesh of the FOR WOOL A:N'r> MUTTOK. 75 sheep partakes of the flavor of its feed more than does that of the steer or the hog ; and the milk still more perhaps. But all the apparatus of glands and tissues, for the manufacture of wool, is situated in the skin, and all its deposits are made there, with- out affecting the flesh. The disagreeable '* sheepy " flavor is imparted to meat by age, by bad feeding (or no feeding at all), by wrinkles, and by delay in the removal of the viscera. Let a plain sheep be properly managed from birth to butchering, and the entrails be taken out with neatness and dispatch, and the carcass may be wrapped in the skin without detriment, barring the uncleanliness. From the enormous preponderance of the breed, the much-decried "Merino taste" is the scapegoat for all the bad feeding and worse butchering of the country. A sheep may yield the best flesh of all the domesticated animals or fowls — or the worst, A cry comes up from the Territories and from Texas, that they must have a larger carcass, "more mutton and more wool on fewer legs." These men do not correctly perceive what is wrong with their Mermos. It is not size they lack, so much as quality. The sheep of Texas "kill red," as the butchers say. Then they " cook red ; " they will not brown in the oven ; they are the despair of the French chef. The sheep that *' rustles " is muscular, he is gamy, though not necessarily •' sheepy." He is never fat enough for thoroughly good eating, even when feed- ing on the best Montana Bunch-grass or the famous Grama of Texas. And when he is forced to live awhile on the Black sage of Nevada, or the Nopal cactus of Texas, or the Broom-sedge of Georgia, what can we expect ? Then, too, in the Far "West, the value of sheep heretofore as a wool-producer, has oftentimes caused the flock-master to keep his wethers until they died of old age or abuse ; whence has arisen the delusive maxim of that section of the United States, " old sheep for mutton." But the tables given by Mr. Randall, referred to in a previous chapter, show that Merinos, both ewes and wethers, whether for wool or mutton, or for a combination of the two, have passed their meridian of profitableness at the age of two years. In other words, young sheep produce not only the best mutton, but also the best and, proportionately, the most wool ; so that the producer of both articles can give his customers the quality they want as to age, and at the same time promote his own interests. And when to the requisites above noted is added the others, viz : that the animal shall be free 76 TKE AMERICAN MERINO from wrinkles, and be slaughtered under four years of age, we shall have Merino mutton of an unexceptionable quality. In the still, deep pastures of Ohio, or fed on corn, oats and bran, with bright fodder, hay and straw (add roots if you will), the flesh of the American Merino has juice and flavor. It will take on the color in the oven which is the delight of the gour- met ; and it will enrich with gravy the plump, brown potatoes which encircle its base, round about. Mutton is as much re- sponsive to culture as music. What the flock-masters of the Territories need is, to round out the fattening of their muscular, gamy *' muttons" with a few months', or at least weeks', feed- ing on hay and grain, in a field or corral. The leggy wethers of the plains would have to be broken to quiet gradually ; but a reasonable period of rest and feed will develop in their flesh that fat and juice, which the constant walking of their previous lives had dried up. A fat, smooth carcass, weighing eighty-five or ninety pounds, will sell only an inconsiderable fraction, if at all, lower than the one of one hundred and ten, one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty pounds' weight, in the Chicago Stock Yards. In England, and also in New York, with its English tastes and prepossessions, a difference of about a cent and a half per pound of live weight is made in favor of Southdown, over Merino ; sometimes even two cents. But in liberal, cosmopolitan, (or, rather American) Chicago, there would usually be a difference of only three-eighths to one-half cent a pound between pure one-hundred-pound Merino wethers and one-hundred-and- twenty-pound Southdowns. In a letter to me, Mr. A. C. Halliwell, of the Chicago Drorers' Journal, says ;<<*****» In this market it may be well to state that the demand for light and heavy sheep varies ; largely owing to the season. When lambs and choice ' handy ' carcasses are scarce, it often happens that Merino grades sell higher than coarse- wools." The reader is referred to the report of sales in the Drovers' Journal, of Chicago, quoted in a previous chapter, showing how almost completely quality rules the market, instead of size. I will add at random a few comments made by the reporter of the above journal : ** These Western sheep are among the best mutton sheep that now come to market. A few years ago, Oregon and Nebraska sheep were among the most objectionable that came. The rca- 8on was, they were large-framed, weighed about one hundred to one hundred and ten pounds, and were seldom more than FOR WOOL AXD MUTT0:N'. 'J'? half fat ; now they have the same frames, but twenty to thirty pounds more of good, solid meat on their bones, put on with good western corn and hay. " This market could use a very large number of fat Texas sheep every day. In fact, there is very Httle danger of crowd- ing the market with fat sheep suitable for making mutton. ' ' Ship fat sheep as fast as they can be gathered ; and do not ship lean, scrawny lots at all. "Buyers do not show any partiality ***** They look at the condition of the animal. If heavy, round and fat, they pay top figures, no matter what part of the country the sheep hail from, or what breed or mixture." Both the Merino fleece and skin are superior to those of the Southdown ; so, if both were sold in the wool, in Chicago, there would be practically no difference between them. But, if the butchers or the fashion should insist on having a carcass as large as the Southdown, the American Merino is cap- able of supplying it. A direct descendant of the famous ram Sweepstakes, in Fulton County, Ohio, weighed when in high condition, two hundred and five pounds. No ram is admitted to record in the " Victor-Beall Delaine Merino Register," weigh- ing under one hundred and fifty pounds, and no ewe under one hundred pounds. Mr. H. R. Pumphrey, of Licking County, Ohio, had at one time twenty-one fuh-blood American Merino yearling ewes, which weighed one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five pounds, or a trifle over ninety pounds apiece ; and twenty-four ewe lambs weighing one thousand six hundred and seventy-five pounds, or a little less than seventy pounds apiece. E. M. Morgan, of Champaign County, Ohio, reared thirty -eight lambs from thirty-five ewes, and at the opening of winter, these lambs averaged seventy-six pounds. His yearling wethers, *' including three dry ewes," averaged one hundred and twenty- two pounds. A lot of full-blood wethers, two years old, were sold in 1881, in Jefferson County, Ohio, which averaged one hundred and twenty-two and a half pounds with the wool off. The Merino wethers of Michigan and of Washington County, Pa. , often average one hundred and twenty to one hundred and twenty -five pounds with their fleeces off. Butchers and buyers seem to have a sort of prejudice in favor of a sheep that will reach the even hundred pounds ; and I do not think the breeder of pure-blood Mermos will find his high- est profit in aiming much above that figure. In a Shorthorn steer, we seek the greatest amount of beef in a single animal ; 78 THE AilEKICAK MERIN'O but with the sheep, which yields as a collateral product that *' staple of endless values and mysterious shrinkages," we must have surface to grow it on. In advising new beginners what sheep to buy, the Texas Live Stock Journal says : *' Purchase a flock which will turn out a good hundred-pound mutton. Then see that these sheep will shear at least above the average of four pounds of wool. With a flock shearing five, six or seven pounds of wool, with a flock turning out hundred-pound muttons at two years old, with sheep used to the country and the system in vogue, with a good range of mixed grass to run them on, any intelligent man can make a good living profit on his investment at present prices for year's clips of wool." No right-thinking breeder of American Merinos will ever seek to grow early mutton lambs. But a cross between the Merino and Southdown produces admirable results in this direction. The Merino-Southdown, from a unilateral cross, is probably the nearest approach that will ever be made to an animal yielding, at the same time, the best staple and the finest quality of mutton. It is as a producer of mature grain-fed mutton, and a choice delaine or combing staple, that the American Merino has before it a great future. It is probable that wool of equal value for the manufacture of worsteds, or other fabrics requiring a true and strong fiber, can be produced in no other way, as the conditions to which the sheep is subjected when being judiciously fed for mutton are especially favorable to the growth of a fiber of this character. Life upon the range, with its attendant exposure to extremes of weather and alternations of plentiful and scant feed, can never with certainty produce this class of wool. Hon. John L. Hayes, Secretary of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, said to the Vermont breeders in 1884 : "The French early Ba%v that combing could be applied to Merino wool ; and that gave rise to the French Merino — a large- bodied animal growing a long wool. The Frencli invented var- ious fabrics, merino, etc. The English did not comb any wools, except those of long fiber. Up to 1865 we followed the English practice and our wool manufactures urged the growing of long wools. Then the processes in vogue in France were adopted here, and in 18G9 the first worsted coatings were made in this country. Tiie wool used was Merino. In 187C there was an astonishing exhibit of worsted -at Philadelphia. Since 18G9 the manufacture FOR WOOL A:N"D MUTTOIiJ". 79 of worsted has increased from $320,000 annually to $45,000,000, and this has come from your system of breeding, which has furnished the necessary material." The great demand for wool created by the fostering of the protective tariff, led to the development in the United States of the greatest wool-producer the world ever saw ; but it was a one-sided animal. It is a sheep whose anatomical formula may be comprehensively stated thus : Fifty pounds of carcass, fifty pounds of '* drift," six pounds of wool, twenty pounds of yolk —a total of fifty-six pounds of wool and flesh, to seventy pounds of waste. Such an animal cannot stand the test of a many- sided civilization. From the production of wool there has set Fiff. 6. — A RAMBOUILLET MEEINO. in an extreme reaction to the production of mutton from English breeds. It would be wiser for us to do as the disciples of Daubenton did in France— create out of our own excellent material, the American Merino, an animal yielding a three-inch delaine staple, and sixty pounds of clear, ripe mutton. The French Merino was brought to this country under un- fortunate auspices ; it came from a high culture to a raw, pio- neer civilization ; and this fact, together with the rapacity and swindlmg of its introducers, loaded it with obloquy. But with our American soil and climate, superadded to the laborious and searching care which the French farmer is willing to give, something very like the French Merino would be the nearest approach to a perfect general-purpose sheep. 80 THE AMERICANS' MEEINO As a suggestion, and perhaps a desirable model for our Amer- ican Merino breeders to follow, I will give a brief outline of the Rambouillet Merino. When brought from Sixain to France, in 1786, the rams weighed in full fleece from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty-live pounds ; the ewes, ninety to one hundred and five ; the rams' fleeces, ten and three- quarter pounds ; the ewes', nine and one-third ; the staple of the rams' fleeces was 2.18 inches long in the crimp ; that of the ewes', 2.14. At the date of the Paris Exposition, 1878, the rams weighed in full fleece, one hundred and ninety-five pounds ; the ewes, one hundred and forty ; the rams' fleeces, nineteen and three-quarter pounds ; the ewes', thirteen and one-half ; the staple of the rams' fleeces was 2.o7 inches long in the crimp ; that of the ewes', 2.30. The staple was about of the same fineness as when .they were brought from Spain, and the fleeces yielded about the same percentage of pure wool, that is thirty to thirty- three per cent. Their fleece weighed about ten per cent of their live weight, where our American fleeces reach twenty per cent. The fluctuations of fashion sometimes operate disastrously on the wool-grower. Since the year 1869, there have been three revolutions in woolen manufacture : alternations between the long-haired wool used in making the stiff, '' fuU-luster," British fabrics, such as alpacas and brill antines, and the Merino wool used in the soft, fine, clinging stuffs, such as cashmeres and chillis. To say nothing of the heavy losses occasioned to wool- growers by these changes, I wfll mention the case of the Pacific Mills, of Lawrence, Mass. This great factory lost over $2,000,- 000 as a result of a single one of these changes, that amount of capital being sunk in machinery, thus rendered worthless. But the superiority of American wools, especially those from the Eastern agricultural regions, in soundness, length and strength of staple, gives our manafacturers an advantage of great value. The clips of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Vir- ginia are acknowledged to be the best produced in Christendom, not wholly on account of a superior adaptation of soil and cli- mate, but also because the Merino has fallen into the hands of the best race of farmers of civilization. The wool product of the United States for 1884 is set down at about 337,000,000 pounds, against 320,000,000 for 1883. Our im- ports for 1884 were a fraction short of 73,000,000 pounds, against 84,000,000 in 1883. Subtracting the amount sent over to Can- ada, we have about 68,000.000 pounds as our import for home manufacture. Only about 6,000 bales — 2,500,000 pounds — were FOR WOOL AK^D MUTTOK. 81 imported from Australia, to be used in the finest cloths of our manufacture ; the greater part of the remainder imported was carpet wool. Now, it is estimated that about ninctj-fivc per cent of all the sheep of the United States are Merinos, or Mei'ino grades. So then we find that five per cent of our home-grown wool and perhaps ten per cent of the imported — certainly not. over seven per cent of the whole amount of wool used in our manufacture — is from the English breeds. And the tendency is toward a reduction of even this trifling percentage. The faint-hearted flock-master who may be disposed, in a temporary depression of values, to sacrifice our National race, the American Merino, for a coarser breed or a mongrel make- shift, ought to bear in mind that the Merino furnishes, and in the long run will continue to furnish, ninety per cent or more of the wool required for the clothing of the American people ! All the British wool that will ever be grown in the United States would sew but a brilliant patch of color upon the Merino fabric of this Nation. In the markets of a cultivated people the coarse, showy cloths manufactured from British wools can not permanently or long compete with the dainty, soft, fur-like flannels which the Merino yields. Hon. John L. Hayes, speaking to the wool-growers at Pliil- adelphia, said : ' ' By making your sheep fat in the shortest pos- sible time, which you can do best with the English races, and killing them as soon as they are mature, you make the best and soundest wool. It will not only be young, but healthy ; it will have no tender places in it. Aiming for the best mutton, you wfll be certain to get the best wool, which will always sell, no matter what race it belongs to." There is some confusion of logic here, and a statement only true in a general way ; but the converse proposition is equally true ; that the farmer who produces the best wool (a three-inch, fine delaine staple, true and sound, and uniformly distributed over the surface of a rather plain sheep), will develop also the best mutton. The watch-ciy comes fitfully over from Great Britain to the American flock-master, that he must make wool the collateral product. It is a mischievous maxim. With the overworked and underfed millions of an old civilization, "what ye shall eat " is of prime consequence ; but in this new empire of ours, still in the pride and strength of youth, the people have money to buy the wherewithal they may be clothed. The spring lamb which feeds the gentleman, clothes the hod- 82 THE AMERICAN MERIXO carrier in Kersey or jeans, and we can not develop it to any- thing better ; but the gentleman, after he has obtained his broadcloth from the Merino, would relegate the carcass to the hod-carrier. In other words, the British sheep caters to the two extremes of a dense population, wealth and abject poverty ; but the Merino ministers to that independent class which is the boast of our country. Our factories are rapidly acquiring the secrets of peculiar and popular foreign styles and fabrics, and even improving upon them, and inventing new processes and textures. Fancy cas- simeres were, until recent times, of foreign production. Now the world-famous establishments of Sedan and Elboeuf are equaled or distanced. A bit of M. Boujeon's goods, taken from the inside of the collar of an overcoat worn by a gentleman from Paris, was the inspiration of the Crampton loom on which fancy cassimeres are now woven, not only in the United States, but also in several countries of Europe. These goods were at the Centennial Exhibition, and the Swedish judge, Mr. Carl Amberg, a practical manufacturer, in his admiration, said to Hon. John L. Hayes : *' You know that the best fancy cassi- meres in the world have been made at Sedan and Elboeuf, in France. If these goods were placed by the side of the Elboeuf cassimeres, you could not tell one from the other ; and the goods could not be bought at Elboeuf for the prices marked here." These goods were made from American Merino wool. The worsted coatings, differing from the fancy cassimeres in being made from combed, instead of carded wool, are a recent triumph of our manufacturing skill ; they obtained distinction at the Paris Exposition of 1867. As an incidental result of this, another industry has been created, the combing and spinning of worsted yarns. Of these an exhibition was made at Phila- delphia, by companies representing $1,500,000 of annual pro- duction ; and they obtained an award showing them to be superior to yarns from the best Australian wools, being " kinder, more elastic and stronger." In flannels, America has already surpassed Europe, because tlie goods are as well made and of better material. For a quarter of a century, European flannels have been driven from our mar- kets, and we now export them to Canada. The yarns from these flannels are more closely twisted, the fabric shrinks less, and it is more highly finished and smoother in face. Even opera flan- nels are now made here from American Merino wool, which are FOR WOOL AND MUTTOX. 83 softer than those manufactured from Australian fleece. Com- mendable progress has been made in competition with France, in the finer styles of ladies' dress goods, such as delaines, serges and merinos. I addressed a number of questions to a prominent manufact- urer and expert of Conshohocken, Pa., to which he replied under date of May 6, 1883 : u * * ^ 'pjjQ Australian wool is finer in blood than our American Merino wool, but it is not as strong, and for all pur- poses I would prefer our high-blood American Merino wool, making a stronger thread ; and for nearly all goods made, would give the American Merino the preference to Australian at same price. If we could get the farmers to be more careful in putting up their wool, free from trash and other refuse stuff, [it] would bring a better price. We can now purchase Australian wool at seventy-five cents for the scoured pound, which to the American manufacturer comes much cheaper than the American Merino wool, being free from heavy string, and containing no trash whatever. My own experience is, that Australian wool is much finer, and varies in staple and soundness ; and I would prefer for our use the choice, fine, high-blooded Ohio Merino to the Aus- tralian, on account of its strength, and making a much stronger yarn." Granting always that there are sometimes conditions of soil, climate and market, in which the British breeds would be more profitable, as a specialty, than the Merino, let us consider the latter as one of the by-products of the farm. For, in all the region east of the Mississippi, it is chiefly as a factor in diversi- fied farming that the American Merino will fill the measure of its great possibilities. As an element of average mixed farming, a few choice high-grade or pure-blood Merinos could be kept at a profit on land worth two hundred dollars an acre, whereas, if kept to the exclusion of other farm-products, they might be un- profitable on land worth over twenty-five dollars an acre. Rejecting all conjectural statistics, I will give some well- attested, actual experience. I condense the following from the American Sheep-Breeder : ••Mr. T. W. W. Sunman, of Spades, Indiana, Nov. 1, 1878, weighed six Merino ewes, aggregating five hundred and ten pounds, or eighty-five pounds each, and put them by themselves in a yard containing a good sheep-house, where they were strictly confined during the winter. They received timothy and clover 84 THE AMERICAN MERII^O hay, mixed, and cut three-quarter-inch long ; of this they had all they would eat, weighed out every day. They never ex- ceeded eleven pounds a day, a trifle under two pounds apiece. In addition they received a quart apiece of ground feed, consisting of one-quarter oats, one-quarter corn, and one-half wheat-bran. They were kept on dry feed from Nov. 1 to March 15, and from that to May 1, on green rye. As the rye which they grazed, when cut and threshed, yielded as much grain as that part on which no sheep were kept, they were charged nothing for this six weeks' grazing. From May until late in October, the six ewes and their five lambs, grazed on a single acre of well-set pasture, containing good shade and water, for which they were charged forty cents apiece for the season. DEBIT. Six ewes @ $"10 $60.00 Three-quarter-ton hay 7.50 Seven hundied and twenty pounds ground feed 7.20 Six months' pasture 2.40 Salt 25 Total 677.35 CREDIT. Six ewes @ $9.00 $54.00 Eishtv-four pounds vf ool @ 28 cents 23.53 Five lambs @ §2.50 l:i.50 Total 890.02 Profit ei2.67 Another case I will cite out of my own experience. In 1882, I purchased eleven pure-blood ewes for two hundred dollars. The first winter they slept in a partitioned corner of the sheep- house, in which they were confined at night ; while by day, except in stormy weather, they ranged in a coru-stubblo, from which thoy picked up the greater part of their living. They received one ear of corn per head per day. One hundred average ears yield a busliel of shelled corn. Thus they consumed, in five months, fifteen bushels of corn. In addition to the corn, the}' received during the winter, one-half ton of hay, mostly timothy. During tlio summer they pastured iu an extremely rough piece of land, part orchard, pnrt locust grove. The apples from the orcliard paid for the use of tlie ground. The second winter was more severe; and they co:.c::m"il, with the same amount of corn. FOR WOOL AND MCTTOlsr. 85 tweu'v-^tvo hundred pounds of hay. We have, then, the follow- ing accouiiu (one ewe having died) : DEBIT. Elevej ewes §200.00 Twer, y-se veil hundred pounds hay 13.50 Thirty bushels corn 12.00 Salt 50 Total $2..5.U0 CREDIT. Ten ewes ?140.no Twen ty lambs 50.00 One hundred and eleven lbs. wool @ 20 cents 2J.20 Two hundred and live lbs. wool @ 32 cents 45.10 Total S:i57.30 Pro tit e 31.30 It will be seen Ihrit I have given the results with the utmost fairness. A small profit was made even on sheep bought at the "stud-flock " price of twenty dollars apiece, though their lambs and, of course, the wool are credited at only ordinary wool-flock prices. Plenty of high-grades could have been purchased at eight dollars a head, which would have given equally good fleeces and lambs, worth as much as the above, in the estimate. At eight dollars a head the profit for the two years would have been forty-one dollars and thirty cents ; for one year, twenty dollars and sixty-five cento ; or about two dollars and fif iy cents ahead. This is a clear profit more than double the "average annual revenue " from the English sheep in his own country. CHAPTER IX. LAMBING. Use of the Sheep-Hook. — Probably not one flock-master ia a hundred uses that invaluable labor-saving implement, the shep- herd's-crook, or sheep-hook. It is surprising that practical, shrewd, inventive Americans will take upon themselves 3'ear after year heavy and unnecess.'xry labor, when the sluggish, Oriental shepherd contrived a way to escape it in the earher stages of nis art, by the employment of the crook. Every ex- perienced flock-master knows that unlcso a bunch of sheep arc 8G THE AMERICAN" MERINO closely huddled, or quite tame, it is very laborious work to catch them, one by one, by the hind legs — for it is an outrage to catch thein by the fleece, which the master should never tolerate. And if it is very tedious and tiresome to catch a hundred or more stron;^ sheep when they are crowded together ; how much more so is it to single out and chase down one after another in a roomy yard, where the master wants them well scattered, so that he can readily detect any points or marks he is looking for. He wants them to run by him, or to go circling around him, always kcepi;ig them with the painted side toward him, so that he can catch the mark readily. Then again, when a foolish young ewe is standing guard in the field over her first lamb, she faces the intruder constantly and backs slowly away, stamping and snufiing, the lamb follow- ing her up ; until finally in despair the master makes a sudden spring, and his fingers probably just graze the wool. With a sheep-hook in his hand, his task is greatly lessened and simplified. If the ewe is to be caught in the sheep-house, it is barbarous to create an uproar and set all the other ewes and lambs to running about, trampling down the weakest, in a mad chase after a recusant ewe. Instead of that, let him quietly reach out the hook around the corner or betw^een the slats of a hay-rack, and seize her by the leg — either a fore or hind-leg — preferably the latter, and no disturbance is created. I have sel- dom failed to capture the wildest ewe in a twenty-acre field, with the hook, at the first pass. There is no bending of the back ; no foundation laid for rheumatism in after years. Deftness with the hook, of course, can be acquired only by practice. It is best to let the sheep which is to be caught get somewhat disentangled from the others, then thrust out the hook and clap it on the leg just above the hock-joint, where the sheep can not readily kick it off". Draw it carefully back, and at the same time lift upward to keep the hook in its place. "When the sheep is within reach, seize it by the hind-leg, or throw an arm around in front of the brisket. The gentleness and even tenderness with which the fancy breeder lays hold of his show-sheep in the pen, sets it on its rump for inspection, then assists it to its feet without allowing it to struggle, and carefully brushes the dirt off the fleece and straightens out the disordered locks, may seem to some bordering on the senti- mental ; but it puts to shame the barbarous roughness of the novic(\ If a sheep is to bi> lifted and laid on its side or carried, it may be taken up with the left arm under the neck, and the FOR WOOL AND 3IUTT0>;r. 87 right arm grasping the right flank (not by the wool) ; or with both hands joined under the brisket, the animal being held perpendicularly, or with the left arm around the brisket and the right between the hind-legs. Making A Hook — Any blacksmith of ordinary "rumble- guraption " can make one. Take a five-sixteenth-inch rod of spring steel, weld it to the socket of an old hoe-handle, for the insertion of the handle ; bend it into a hook, as figure.d here- Fi2:. 7.— CROOK. o with, about four inches long, an inch wide on the inside at the bulge, seven-eighths of an inch wide at the neck (to spring open and close again on the leg) : flatten it at the point, and turn it out one-half inch or so, and back with a roll or a knob to pre- vent laceration. Insert a wooden handle six or seven feet long. Fixtures and Preparations.— One of the most necessary fixtures about the sheep-house in lambing-time, is a set of portable panels for the construction of pens for milkless ewes. These panels should be about four feet high, by three feet long ; they may be made of light lath, with spaces narrow enough to prevent the passage of lambs ; or, better still, closed up entirely near the bottom, to prevent the lamb from seeing and smelling ewes outside of the pen. These panels can be tied together at the comers with twine to form enclosures. They are better than permanent boxes or pens, as they are not needed except m lambing time, and are more easily laid away than boxes. It is taken for granted that the ewes occupy a stable, more or less, during this critical season ; the size and arrangement of this will be considered elsewhere. All crannies and crevices ought to be stopped before lambs begin to arrive ; a very young lamb, attracted by the light, perhaps, or moved by that instinct which teaches it to seek refuge and warmth, is very apt to wedge itself into a narrow place and get chilled. If the build- ing has stone foundations — which are objectionable for this rea- son — they ought to be covered deep with litter ; a lamb, while still damp, is almost certain to lie down on the stone and become fatally chilled. 88 THE AMERICAN MERIXO General Management. — When a rain is coming on, look out for a shower of lambs ; a falling barometer generally portends an increased activity in the sheep-stable, and indicates the necessity of greater watchfulness. The first thing in the morn- ing, of course, the shepherd will go through the stable and look carefully for newly dropped lambs. As soon as convenient, the doors ought to be opened and the flock allowed to drift leisurely out into a yard (not to receive feed, as then they will rush out too rapidlj'), to allow the ewes with lambs dropped during the night, to become separated from the others. If any irregularity appears, if any ewes have abandoned their young, careful search must be made through the flock for those which give indications of having been recently parturient. There may be twins ; they may bs separated ; one may have been adopted by a strange ewe, herself on the point of yeaning, and she rnay now be paying attention both to the stranger and her own lamb ; or she may (such is the extraordinary stupidity of which young Merino ewes are capable), even have neglected her own lamb in her devotion to the one previously adopted. When a ewe is seen to remain apart and take no notice of the flock for two or three hours, she ought to be gently caught and examined. Young Merino ewes are apt to be troubled by a retention of the foetus, which may be due to several causes : Scirrhous os uteri, firm adherence and abnormal conditions of placenta and uterus, loss of power of expulsion by the uterus, paralysis, deformities, torsion of the uterus, and others. The first of these causes is most likely to be present, and it may in- duce a labor so protracted as to make the ewe disown her lamb. Let the operator, having laid the ewe carefully on the left side, sit at her back, and with the forefinger of the right hand, feel for the foetus per vaginam. He should rest satisfied with nothing short of the f ore-f e^t, or head, or both. If this can not be had, the mouth of the womb is evidently closed, but a patient search will seldom fail to reveal a very small and tightly corded orifice. If this can not be discovered, one must be fretted away with the finger-nail, or with the point of a knife-blade closely pressed against the finger. After this has been gradually en- larged so as to admit one finger, a second finger may be inserted, then a third. Delivery can be successfully accomplished in three cases : First, when there is a presentation of the hind-feet ; second, of the head and f(v.'e-feet ; third, of the head with one or both of the fore-legs doubled back, though in this case the labor is FOR WOOL AN^D MUTTOl^. 89 difficult. All other presentations must be corrected ; some per- son with a small hand should thrust the foetus back and en- deavor to turn it in such a manner, as to bring on one of the above presentations, preferably that of the head and two fore- feet. Such interference as this is risky, still it is always best to resort to it promptly, as soon as it is ascertained that there is a false presentation, for protracted labor is apt to result in the strangulation of the lamb and the e version of the uterus. More than that, it frequently disheartens the ewe, and makes her in- different to the lamb. From the time the head distinctly emerges from the mouth of the womb, the labor-pains may be so assisted by the operator as to complete the delivery in twenty minutes. With the fore-finger hooked in the under side of the jaw, and the remainder of the hand grasping the fore-legs, the operator may draw gently, in unison with the pains, gradually increas- ing the draught. If the pulling is distributed equally between the legs and the jaw, it may reach twenty or twenty-five pounds without injury to either ewe or lamb. It is far better to employ whatever force may be necessary, even to the fracture of the lower jaw (this may occur, and yet the lamb survive and re- cover), than to allow the ewe to linger for hours in agony, in a hopeless effort to expel the foetus from a womb which has an insufficient exit, or none at all. After the lamb has di-awn a few breaths, the umbilical cord may be severed a foot or more from the lamb, which should then be laid under the ewe's nose. If she falls to licking it, all well ; but if the parturition has been too painful, she may take no notice of the lamb. Bat if confined with it in a very small ptn, where she can see no other sheep, she will generally own it in a few hours. Foster Mothers, Substitution, Etc. — When a good milker loses her iamb, her services are not necessarily lost ; there are various ways of rendering her useful in the flock. If she is extremely attached to her lamb, and lingers about its dead body, she may be made to adopt a stranger by clothing it in the skin of her own, but this ruse will not deceive a sharp ewe. Let the skin be taken off without the head, but with the fore-legs to serve as sleeves, and with the tail, for it is at the root of the tail that the mother always seeks the scent by which she recognizes her offspring. The skin should be removed within twenty-four hours, else it will putrefy and sicken the lamb. A ewo may be induced to adopt almost anything if, immedi- ately after parturition, her own lamb is taken away before she 90 THE AMERICAN MERINO smells it, and another, after being rubbed in her liquor amnii, is laid under her nose. A little salt rubbed about the rump may persuade her to fall to licking it, and thus develop a fondness for it. But all these substitutions are extremely hazardous; the master m.ay have to keep the foster-mother alone with the lamb, and contend with her for weeks, whipping, scaring her with the shepherd dog, etc., to accomplish the desired result. If a ewe owns her lamb at all, and has milk, however little, with a prospect of giving more, it is far better to leave the lamb with her and supplement her supply with the bottle. A lamb once taken away from the mother is a source of infinite "pot- tering." Eesuscitation of Chilled Lambs. — It is surprising to the novice, how near death a lamb may pass and yet be brought back by the help of man. if the thumb and fingers tightly clasped on each side of the chest, discover the faintest throbbing of the heart, it is worth while to attempt to restore it, if the lamb is a good one. (Even in a well-bred flock there are some- times lambs so puny and flaccid— generally covered with min- ute pellets of wool, tightly curled down, plainly repealing the skin and prophesying a poor shearer — that they are not worth much exertion). The quickest way, and in extreme cases, the only way to recover it is, to plunge it up to the neck into water as hot as the hand can bear. But this should be only a last resort, for there is great danger that the water will obliterate the scent at the root of the tail by which the dam recognizes her own. For the same reason, it is dangerous to carry the Iamb away at all, especially if wrapped in malodorous carpets, or the like. It is better to bring out hot flannels and wrap up the lamb, leaving the head out for the mother to smell occasion- ally. A very good way, when the case is not desperate, is to fold the legs neatly, and hold the lamb between the ewe's hind- legs until it is warmed enough to suck. A lamb once severely chilled must be closely watched for several days afterward ; it is liable to a relapse unless highly nourished. If dropped in cold weather, a great many lambs would never succeed in getting the teat, unless assisted. It is an extremely vexatious task for one person to attempt to hold a struggling ewe on her feet, and teach a veiy young lamb to draw. It is best always to cut the matter short by laying her on her left side, the lamb on its right. Then with the thumb and finger of the left hand, hold the jaws apart and milk a little into the mouth. The taste of the warm milk will generally induce it to FOR WOOL a:n"d mutton. 91 draw, as soon as the teat is introduced into its mouth. How- ever bright the lamb may appear, it is never safe to take any- thing whatever for granted as to the estabhshment of working relations between ewe and lamb, unless the latter is actually Been to suck. Cossets. — It is only a very valuable lamb that will repay the master for bringing it up by hand himself, and the hired help or the children will generally feed it so injudiciously through the summer, as to render it nearly worthless. I make it a rule of my flock, whether a lamb is to be reared by hand or not, that it shall not receive anything whatever but fresh ewe's milk into its stomach for the first day ; and the longer cow's milk can be withheld, the better. If no fresh ewe has a supply to spare, I m^ake no scruple to draw on one that soon will be fresh. Cow's milk is too constipating, especially if not fresh. Constipation is at best the greatest bane of the young lamb's life, and it is well to allow the cosset, once a day, for a week or two, to have its fiU of the freshest ewe's milk obtainable. If a young lamb is fed a few times with a teaspoon, it may be taught to suck a leather in the bottom of the trough, and thus much trouble be avoided ; but some are obstinate and must have the bottle. Sucking is better than drinking ; it is slower, and causes a freer secretion of saliva. A Good Practical System.— Mr. Geo. S. Coi-p, of Morgan County, Ohio, in the fall removes the first sixty ewes served, keeping them separate. Eight or ten in every flock of sixty will " miss " at the first service. In two weeks after the service begins, he puts ' ' teasers " into the flock every day, as he brings them in, to discover those that require a second service ; and these are drafted into the second division of sixty. So with the second division, and the third, etc. Thus, when the season is ended, he has the divisions composed of about fifty each, which is the largest number he wishes to have in one flock. When lambing comes on, one division at a time requires attention ; the first and the last dates of service are recorded, so it is known when each division is done with. Bulletin boards hung on the wall have slips of paper pasted or tacked on them for " lamb records," showing date of birth, sire and dam of each. This lamb record is to be returned to the Secretary of the Ohio Register, of which Mr. C. is a member. Not satisfied with providing lamb pens for ewes that disown their lambs, he has enough to hold every lamb that will be 92 THE A.MEEICAN MERINO dropped in two days or more. They are thirty-three in num- ber, in two barns, ranged along the two opposite sides, about four feet square, made of plasterer's lath, each with a little hinged door, hay rack and feed box. The building, which may be called the nursery, has a row of these on two sides of it, the row on the warmest side of the house having a stove about the middle of it. This stove is fenced about with lath. There are cages of different sizes, some only half as large as a mocking- bird's cage. These are furnished with handles and may be set on top of the pens or anywhere else near the stove. Lambs shut in them will be dried and warmed, and they can not wander off, as they liave a propensity to do if not restrained, as soon as they begin to get warm and limber. Now this row of lamb pens on one side of the house (they are permanent) might be labeled milk ; that on the other side, NO MILK, though this is not actually done. When a lamb is stout and the ewe has milk, both are put at once into one of the pens on the " milk " side ; when the ew^e has no milk or the lamb is weak aud needs help, both are put at once into a pen on the " no milk " side. This saves the shepherd considerable trouble. When he comes into the stable with a bottle of warm cow's milk he does not have to pudder about, catching this ewe and that to see whether she has a supply of milk ; he simply takes the row as it comes. Sometimes the ewe's milk will "come" in six hours, sometimes in twelve, sometimes in thirty-six ; in a very rare case it never comes. In the interval of waiting, the lamb and the ewe require gentle and patient care and liberal feeding. As fast as lambs gain strength enough to go alone, they and their dams are removed to a separate flock until the limit of fifty is reached, when still another flock is started, etc. The bran boxes in the pens are about six inches square and an inch deep— a lath forms the sides — and are tacked on the top of the sill. The hay racks are also made of plasterer's lath, against the wall, having a depth a little greater than the width of the sill. After trying the patent rubber nipples of drug stores, Mr. C. threw them aside and made a little plug of soft poplar, with a bore about the size of a small wheat straw. At first he attached a cloth to this, but he presently found that the lamb would suck it as well without the cloth. He now uses this altogether. He has two or three "lamb creeps" in different parts of the building. One of these is formed by a board placed high enough to allow a lamb to pass under, but too low for a sheep. Another FOR WOOL AKD MUTTOlsr. 93 has its entrance through a little hinged doer, which is propped open wide enough to admit a lamb, but it will catch a sheep by the shoulder. In these pens he has little troughs containing bran or ground feed for the special beneft of the lambs. Whether lambs are droj)ped in February or April, whether they are grown for wool or mutton, it is of immense importance to keep them growing rapidly. They will, in ten days, take more than their mother's milk, and the little feed bestowed in this way wiU prove to be the best investment the flock-master can make. They can be weaned a month or six weeks sooner, if fed this way, and still be as large as usual, if not larger. This gives the ewes more time to rest and recuperate, and the added growth and strength of the lambs are a wonderful protection against parasitic diseases. Feeding with Cow's Milk.— It is sometimes desirable, where young lambs are fed with cow's milk to keep milk warm for some length of time. This can be easily accomplished by hav- ing a double tin can made, leaving a space of an inch between the outer and inner walls which can be filled with sand. The top and bottom should be soldered securely to both walls after putting in the sand. A tube an inch long must be placed on top and open into the inner cavity where the milk is put. Once warm the sand, and it will keep the milk wami for some hours. Lambs fed on cow's milk, like those whose mothers receive only corn and hay, are very prone to constipation, which is the greatest pest the shepherd has to contend with. 1. Never feed with cow's milk, if possible to avoid it. If used, let it be fresh, diluted one-third its bulk with water, and weU sweetened with pure, white sugar. 2. If fed every horn* or two, after the first three or four feeds, it is not easy to give a lamb too much. Lambs are oftener starved to death than over-fed. 3. If constipation has already set in, do not dose the lamb with black molasses, magnesia, lard or the like. Give it an in- jection with a bulb-syringe, very gently, with blood-warm water, first oiling the tube with castor-oil. If necessary, repeat the operation. But all the nostrums, laxatives, injection-pipes, and what not, fall immeasurably behind grass-made milk in value as pre- ventives of constipation. , Diseases of Lambs. — This remark as to grass leads to a men- tion of the so-called " lamb cholera" — a clear misnomer, since the malady has been distinctly shown to be non-epizootic. It 94 THE AMERICAN MERIJ^^O generally attacks the finest, fattest lambs of the flock ; indeed, almost the only strictly safe generalizaf ion which may be made on its causes is, that it does not assail an under-fed flock, or a fiock ranging on the sweet grasses, and the clear, running waters of a hilly country. For this reason, Southern Ohio has been almost exempt from its ravages, and I am chiefly indebted for information to observers living on the flatter, sourer lands of Northern Ohio, among whom I may mention Capt. J. G. Blue, of Morrow County ; Mr. William Cattell, of Columbiana County ; and Mr. G. W. Hervey, of Jefferson County. The lamb is taken very suddenly and violently ; falls on the ground in a tremor, with spasmodic kicks ; sometimes froths at the mouth and throws the head back, further and further every minute, until finally it almost rests on the shoulders ; the eyes are rolled up and have a fixed, staring look. Death usually ensues in a few minutes, and dissection reveals ' ' the first stom- ach full of cakes of curd ; the lungs seemed full of blood, and just inside the rectum was a shmy, watery appearance, with considerable wind. No diarrhea apparent in those ; but I noticed in some a discharge like diarrhea, after they were sick, but before they died." I never lost but one lamb from this disease, a hand-fed pet ; it had the above symptoms, and its stomach was very acid and tightly distended with gas. As with all ailments to which the sheep is liable, prevention is a hundred per cent better than cure ; but in this case the preventive measures must be brought to bear upon the ewes. One excellent, practical shepherd recommends to take a half- gallon of tar, mix into it all the salt it will hold together, and smear the salt-troughs with it, withholding all other salt, so as to compel the flock to lick this. The lambs will soon learn to partake with their dams. Another recommends grain and dry feed to correct the flatulency and acidity of the stomach. Better than either, perhaps, is sharp wood ashes, or lime, well mixed in the salt, say in the proportion of one part lime to ten of salt. If the lamb is seen as soon as attacked, and the shepherd is skilled in drenching, so that he can perform the operation with- out strangling the animal — of which there is great danger, especially when it is unable to swallow readily — let him admin- ister an ounce of Epsom salts in a teacup full of warm water ; it may save its life. Or, put a lump of tar, as large as a hickory nut, well back on the base of the tongue, and shut the mouth and hold it closed to compel it to swallow. FOR WOOL AXD MUTTOJf. 95 Excess of Milk. — When the ewes are on a full feed of grass, it frequently happens that a good milker will accuroulate a supply of milk so large, as to cause one or both of the teats to become swollen and tender. If the lamb is vigorous and per- sistent, it will generally reduce one teat to use, but there is great danger that it will rest content with that one, and neglect the other, which will then speedily become useless. The milk must be drawn gently, and the ewe confined on dry feed three or four days. Care must be taken not to let her out too soon, or the operation will need to be repeated. Fouling. — The tail of a very young lamb sometimes becomes so firmly glued to the posteriors by the gummy excrement, that further defecation is rendered impossible. The best thing to do is, to remove the obstruction and dock the lamb at once ; but if, on account of warm weather, or for other reasons, it is not deemed expedient to do this at the time, all the parts should be scraped clean with a cob and well sprinkled with road-dust, or something similar. CHAPTER X. CARE OF EWES AND LAMBS. There is nothing within the compass of the art of man which will promote a flow of milk so well as grass ; and there is noth- ing else which will set a lamb up on its legs as well as a supply of grass-made milk. In the pastoral states, grass must neces- sarily be the main dependence of the shepherd ; but in the older East, the pressure of other branches of spring work on the average farmer (for it is chiefly as a component of diversified farming that the Merino has an assured future in the agricul- tural States), will probably always cause a majority of northern flock-masters to have lambing over and out of the way before much grass grows. Feed for Ewes. — When a Merino ewe lambs as early as February or March, it is a long time and a hard task for her to make milk on dry feed until grass comes. What little she may 96 THE AMERICAN" MERIXO make will be constipating ; there is great danger that the lamb will die of costiveness, after ten days or two weeks. A guide as to condition of the suckling ewe, is the softness of the feeces ; they should not be in pellets. One of the best shepherds of my acquaintance, Mr. William F. Quinn, of Washington County, Ohio, feeds his ewes regu- larly, mangels, cut and sprinkled with bran. He has tried pulping, but prefers to cut them by hand into longish pieces, as large as one's finger. Pieces of this shape are not liable to cause choking. He finds that his ewes take more satisfaction in chewing these pieces than in gulping down like pigs a quan- tity of cold, watery mash, and are more benefited by them, on account of the more perfect admixture with saliva. Clover hay, bran, bruised oats, bright corn-fodder, fodder- corn (if cured without must), linseed meal, cotton-seed meal are all excellent. If the ration is increased gi-adually, there is hardly any danger of over-feeding with any of them, except tlie linseed and the cotton-seed meal. There are cases so well authen- ticated, in which linseed meal has produced abortion, that we are not at liberty to disregard them. Still, I never saw a case of injury resulting from its use. One of the best practical shep- herds of my acquaintance, Mr. L, W. Skipton, employs it habit- ually. To accustom his ewes to it, he at first mixes it in very small proportions with wheat bran, which he generally wets into a stiff slop ; at the outside, he never allows more than a gill of the linseed meal to each sheep. Probably most flock-masters would find less trouble in teaching their sheep to eat it dry, miixed with bran. But all these dry feeds, however excellent, do not equal roots in supplying the place of grass. And of these, probably, there is nothing superior to the white sugar beet for producing a flow of milk. I would name, in the order of their general availability, the white sugar beet, the mangel, the ruta-baga, and the white turnip. If no other succulent feed is at hand, small potatoes and apples can be given with great advantage. If the flock is small, it will be better to wash and slice the roots, or pulp them in a mill for the whole flock. If it is large, there will be a majority of them robust, and hearty enough to eat the roots whole, if scattered on the hay orts, in the racks where they will be clean. The dainty ones can be culled out in the course of a few feedimrs and placed in a separate flock ; this will reduce the labor of pulping. An excess of cold, watery feed is injurious to pregnant ewes, FOR WOOL AND MUTTON". 97 as it is likely to produce abortion. After parturition has taken place, there is little or no danger. Keeping the Stable Clean.— From the succulent feed, on which alone the shepherd can hope for a modicum of success with the breeding flock, there will be an immense increase of the exhalations which are so fatal to the health of sheep. The urine decomposes and gives off ammonia. There is nothing so abominable as a slippery, reeking stable-floor, from which the lambs, slipping between the slats into the hay-racks, carry tilth upon the hay ; they also discolor the ewes' fleeces by gamboling upon them when lying down, and they so besmear each other that they are almost unrecognizable by their own mothers ! Nor will it answer merely to heap up litter, m the hope of smother- ing the stench. The manure must be removed, clear down to the floor — which should be of earth — every week, or oftener, if the stench can not be suppressed ; and the surface sprinkled with lime, if the offensive odor is very persistent. On dry feed, the steady dribble of orts from the hay-racks, with a little ad- dition of straw or chaff, will absorb all the urine and prevent the escape of ammonia nearly all winter ; but on succulent feed this will not answer. The manure must be removed with the utmost vigilance. The sheep's nostrils are near the ground ; the shepherd may perceive nothing amiss when he enters the stable, while the flock are sickening on ammonia. Lambing in the Field. — When the lambing season is some- what protracted, the latter part of it will probably extend mto the grass, and there will occur spells of sharp weather of some days' duration, when the ewes will have to go afield some part of the day at least. It is desirable to keep them housed from cold winds as much as possible, but they cannot be confined alto- gether. On such days, the shepherd should watch the flock carefully, for there is a fatality (or, rather, an explainable nat- ural cause), which brings lambs fastest in the roughest weather. There ought to be a piece of good pasture, preferably of orchard grass, held in reserve near the sheep-house for such weather. When a lamb is dropped, unless unusually vigorous, it will rapidly chill in a cutting wind. The shepherd can decide what to do in five minutes. Let him be provided with a light wheel- barrow, a piece of soft wool-twine and a sheep-hook. Capture the ewe, lay her on her side ; take a turn in the middle of the string around the lower hmd-leg and secure it with one knot ; draw in the under fore-leg, and secure in the same way ; then 98 THE AMERICAN MERINO the upper hind-leg ; lastly, the upper fore-leg, and make fast. Lay the lamb between her hind-legs to keep it warm, then wheel them gently to the stable. Here, if assisted to suck once, it will probably do well thenceforth. When the flock is brought in after a windy day, care must be taken that no lamb is left behind. They are apt to hide away during the day in sheltered crevices. Goitrous Lambs. — Under the headings " Congenital Goitre," and "Imperfectly Developed Lambs," Dr. Randall treats at great length certain abnormal phenomena appearing in very young lambs, which in all probability are reducible to the same category as regards their cause, and that cause wholly adven- titious. Under the heading of "Goitre," I shall have something further to say in a subsequent chapter ; at present it will be sufficient to note somewhat more particularly the effects of too high feeding with grain, especially with com, Mr. H. Miller, of Delaware County, Ohio, in a communication to the Ohio Farmer, stated that he had had occasion to suspect that exces- sive corn-feeding of the ewes produced goitre in the lambs ; and, by dividing the flock into two portions, and feeding one lightly and the other heavily, he satisfied himself, by the absence of the malady from the progeny of the lii^hter-fed ewes, that his suspicions were correct. The flock-master of extended experience will often, in his earUer career, find himself wondering why it is that the fattest, " stockiest " ewes in his flock will occasionally yean the small- est, whitest, most puny lambs. Sometimes, however, instead of being phenomenally under-sized, the lamb will reach the average stature, or even exceed it ; but it will be of a flaccid, soft, muscular development ; the under-side of the hoofs very spongy ; the skin pallid, especially around the lips, nose, the septum of the nose, the ciliary caruncles, and the natural ori- fices of the body. It is weak — the least obstruction of the liquor amnii or slime about the nostrils will prevent it from getting its breath : the liquor itself is colorless, a robust lamb being generally enveloped in yellow liquor. If it survives at all, it will be hours before it can stand, even under the stimulus of warm sunshine. The ewe will be subject to garget. The probability is, that the mother of this lamb was over-fed on corn. She may have been sterile the preceding year, and consequently fat at the coupling season, and she remained so throughout the winter, to the detriment of the lamb as above FOR WOOL AND 3IUTT0>ir. 99 described. Still, experience and observation both convince me that there is little danger of having breeding ewes too fat if they have plenty of exercise in the open air. The errors are nearly all committed upon the other side, by having them too poor. A fat ewe may not produce as large a lamb at birth as a thinner one, but nine times out of ten the fat evre's lamb will be the larger when a month old. On the other hand, a ewe sometimes enters the period of gestation in high condition, and continues so for a month or two, then begins to fall off under good feeding, and as the end of her term approaches, staggers under her burden. Parturition is accomphshed with great difficulty ; the chances are that the lamb will be still-bora ; she will cast her fleece as a result of puerperal fever. She has no constitution, and is valueless for a breeder ; she ought to be drafted from the breeding flock and fattened. The simple fact that a ewe disowns her lamb, however per- sistently, should not condemn her as a breeder. When she has httle or no milk, it seems to be a monition of instinct that she can not rear it, and she abandons it accordingly. Under more favoring circumstances next year she may prove the most affectionate of mothers. This has often occurred in my ex- perience. Green Rye for Ewes. — ^When grown on dry or well-drained uplands, green rye is undoubtedly a very valuable resource in spring, for ewes in lamb ; but when cultivated on rich, moist, river bottoms, its deleterious effects are beyond question. Al- though only moderately nutritious and rather distasteful to stock, in comparison with other kinds of green plants, still its exceptional eaiiiness, bringing it forward at a time wlien there is nothing else above ground eatable, imparts to it a high value. I find by referring to my farm journal, that I have one year mown a fair swath of it as early as March 25. It is well known that rye is subject, especially during cold, damp seasons, to the attack of a parasitic fungus, which attaches itself to the seed m its earliest development. This causes it to grow out m a long, dark excrescence shaped like a cock's spur, whence its name, ergot. This fungus may be detected by the microscope, not only m the head, but also m other portions of the plant ; and the white sporidia or dust on the surface of the ergot will inoculate other plants with the disease, if scattered in the sod at their roots, or applied to the forming seeds. The therapeutic action of ergot is so well known as to require 100 THE AMERICAN MERIXO but a mere mention. It affects the uterus, tending to accelerate labor, and after parturition, to expel the placenta. Now for its actual effect on pregnant ewes. My rye patches are sown necessarily on the river bottoms, where it grows rank and is liable to be spurred. In my earlier ignorance I allowed the ewes to run on it nearly through the whole lambing season. They gave me an unusual and (at that time) unaccountable amount of trouble. When I succeed in inducing a ewe to recognize and own a lamb, I expect no more trouble with her if she has plenty of milk. But here they acted regardless of all precedent. I would establish practical relations between a ewe and lamb, both of them strong and healthy ; she would have a full supply of milk for it, and everything would go on correctly for two or three days, and then, the first thing I knew, the lamb would be going around drawn up nearly double, disowned and half starved. The ewes were in good condition and full of milk. Several of the lambs seemed to have been dropped prematurely. The dams paid no attention to them. Myself and hired man were chasing, tying up, whipping, and otherwise employing coercive measures toward refractory ewes, all through the sea- son. It was a warm, early spring, and there seemed no excuse for such wanton proceedings. Toward the end of the season the flock was removed to a field of red clover, and in about a week the trouble ceased. It is my opinion that the fungoid spores were present already in the young plants. If there is any reason to suspect their presence, pregnant ewes should not be allowed to graze on rye for a fortnight before yeaning, and not for a week or ten days after. Defective Teats. — In case a ewe has had a teat clipped off by a careless shearer, she ought not to be admitted to the breed' ing-flock, but if she has got in through oversight, she had better be marked for rejection next time, unless she is otherwise ex- ceptionally valuable. The orifice will be grown up, but a new one can be created by inserting a small trocar and canula, and leaving the latter in for several days, withdrawing it every day to apply some ointment of tar and powdered vitriol, which will assist the healing process. Sometimes a middle-aged ewe will have a teat which, though yielding wholesome milk, is enormously enlarged, so that the lamb can not deplete it without assistance. The teat must be taken in hand promptly, else it will become so engorged as to be feverish, and then it will be many days before the ewe will permit the lamb to touch it. She must be kept up on dry feed, FOR WOOL AXD MUTTOX. 101 and the milk withdrawn several times a day, until the lamb gets hungry. It is singular how soon a bright lamb will get into a habit of depending on one teat, and it is sometimes neces- sary to sin ear the favorite one with tar for a while, to make the lamb take to the large one. Twins. — With the Merino ewe, twins are seldom desirable, unless it is in a standard or stud-flock, where the great value of the lambs will justify very high artiiicial feeding. If the ewe is large and a free milker, and the twins of about equal size, she may be allowed to retain both, and should be put m a small enclosure or pasture alone with them, until they become thor- oughly accustomed to each other. But if one is conspicuously smaller than the other, the shepherd will generally be the gainer by giving the dwarf to a neighbor. If he has a fresh, lambless ewe, he can compel her to adopt it, but he must make up his mind to struggle with her for two or three weeks. Stiff Neck. — Lambs running afield in damp, cold weather, are subject to rheumatism in this form. The great cervical muscles are flattened and rigid, the head is drawn down almost to the ground, so that the little animal, though perfectly bright otherwise, is unable to suck. I have never given any treatment beyond assisting the lamb to suck for a few days. I had a case once which lasted twenty days before recovery was complete. Doctor Randall states that a cure can readily be effected by administering a teaspoonful of turpentine, in two of lard, reduc- ing the dose for a very young lamb. It is one of the evils at- tendant upon lambing before the season is sufficiently advanced to afford grass-made milk and sunny weather. Castration and Docking. — It is rather severe on the ram- lambs, to have to undergo castration and docking together ; yet out of many hundreds I have operated upon, I have lost less than a half-dozen from excessive bleeding. I attach no import- ance to the '* signs" in this matter, and never consult the almanac beforehand ; but there are undoubtedly certain times in the month when bleeding will be more prolonged than at others. If the reader is skeptical on this point, before he scoffs at the "superstition" of an old shepherd, let him make the experiment for himself. Instead of consulting tlie almanac, then, let the flock-master perform an operation (docking is the best test, as castration causes little bleeding anyway), on two or three lambs, and if they bleed profusely, he had better defer the operation a few days. 102 THE AMERICAN MERIXO If castration and docking could be performed without assist- ance, it would be best, every way, to attend to them both before the lamb is a week old, but it is not very convenient to do it without an attendant, and for this reason, most shepherds will always continue the practice of going through the whole flock at once. Still, if settled warm weather is to be expected before lambing is over, it is best not to wait for that, but set to work promptly, and then finish the stragglers in a second batch. Castration ought always to be performed before docking ; it requires a finer and sharper blade than the latter. Cool, cloudy weather is best. Let the flock be driven up in the evening, without heating or worrying the lambs ; then, during the night, they will measurably recover from their stiffness and be ready to follow the ewes afield in the morning. Let the catcher bring forward one lamb at a time, and hold it perpendicular before him, head uppermost, back against his breast, a fore-leg and a hind-leg grasped in each hand, but not drawn together so tightly as to make the belly concave and draw the testicles back. The operator seizes the end of the scrotum and cuts it off well up — the closer up it is cut the less cod there is left to hinder the shearer. Then he takes the scrotum in the right hand, works the testicles down, seizes one at the time between the thumb and fore-finger of the left hand, jamming the thumb hard do^vn (it takes a powerful grasp and a stiff thumb to draw the testicle of a robust lamb), and draws it out with a steady pull. Care should be taken to slip the skin, the fat and the interior pouch, or membrane up, so that nothing shall be grasped but the naked testicle. The knife should not be used except to cut off the lower end of the scrotum, nor is there any particular virtue in any other method of severing the spermatic cord, except by pulling. It is wholly unnecessary to scrape it off. Let not the operator be alarmed if the spermatic nerve (the white, glistening cord), is drawn out at considerable length, and three or four inches of it left dangling from the pouch. It is bloodless, and will not attract flies ; it soon dries up and will give no trouble. In all my experience, I have never found it necessary to apply any ointment to the pouch to keep off flies, if only the stump of the tail is well protected. Blood is apt to trickle from tliis down the whole length of the legs, and it needs careful attention. The catcher still holding the lamb in the position above de- scribed, the operator takes another knife and severs the tail. He should first carefully ascertain by feeling with the thumb FOR WOOL AXD MUTTOX. 10)3 where the joint is, for the bone is hard to cut in a lamb of some weeks' age. The length of tail to be left, is not the unim- portant matter the careless shepherd might think it ; too long a stump is inconvenient to shear, and promotes fouling ; too short a one detracts greatly from the beauty of the animal. An inch in length on the under side is enough ; this will round out in fair and seemly proportions, the horseshoe-shaped '' escutcheon," which is a feature of much importance in the outward make-up of a handsome Merino. If the weather is likely to remain cool and cloudy for several days, until the blood dries up, no application will be needed. Otherwise, a half teaspoonful of fish-oil should be well worked into the wool at the stump of the tail, so that it may dribble downward. Tar is objectionable, it smears the wool. As fast as the lambs are docked they ought to be dropped outside the building, where they will not be disturbed in the further pur- suit of operations. The Scotch method of burning the tail off with a red-hot iron (several of which are kept heated close at hand), is a very good one. The operation is instantaneous, and the cauterization prevents bleeding. A writer in the Ohio Farmer contributes the following : *' There is a better way of docking lambs than to use a chisel and mallet. The writer has used for two or three years a pair of toe nippers (the same as used for trimming the hoofs of sheep). The writer's plan is to take the toe nippers with him when he goes to look after the lambs each day, and dock and castrate all that are two or three days old. By the time the ewes are through lambing and ready to wash and shear, the lambs will be healed and exempt from trouble with flies." I am inclined to believe that this would be an excellent method. One man could do the work alone. With the lamb held between the knees of the operator, as he sits on a box, the left hand should work the skin of the tail toward the body, so that when the tail is severed, there may be a hood or flap of skin to cover the bone and assist in healing the wound. With a stout pail' of sheep-shears, castration might be performed at the same time ; for, rough as this method may seem, when the lamb is very young, the pouch and testicles may be severed at one stroke close to the belly, with the best of results. Re-docking. — Sometimes it happens that a lamb needs re- docking after it has attained a growth of some months. In 104 THE AMERICAN MEKIXO case it is a ewe lamb, it is better to re-dock than to suffer an unsightly stump to remain. It may be done safely, but it would be advisable to sear the wound with a hot iron, or put on a pinch of powdered blue vitriol. CHAPTER XI. TAGGING, WASHING ETC. Necessity for Tagging.— Where a very small flock is kept, and they run afield all winter, getting more or less old grass every day, they seldom scour when grass begins to grow green, and tagging is not necessary. But flocks which are confined through the winter, no matter how healthy and how high their condition may be, are sure to contain a certain percentage, which, when turned out, wiU become polluted about the vent before the time for shearing comes on ; and the results of a neglect of tagging are so abominable, that no self-respecting farmer can afford to neglect this precaution. The utmost care should be exercised in handling pregnant ewes while tagging. Blakely's sheep chair is a good thing to hold sheep in while this operation is being performed. It is just high enough for the operator to stand up, leaning to the sheep a little, in a comfortable position to work. It is adjust- able so that it can be let out or taken up to conform to the size, and is adapted to all sheep. To tag sheep rapidly and well, the operator must be handy with the shears, gentle with tne sheep, and have a mechanical eye. Many cut off twice as much wool as is necessary by not cutting in the right place, and leaving it where it should be cut ; and before shearing time comes around, some of the sheep are as bad as ever. Tag one sheep and let it go, and take a look at it when it is going from you, and you can tell if you have sheared in the right place to escape the falling dung. B}-- thus observing, you can, by shearing a small area in the right place, thoroughly tag a sheep by cutting off a small quantity of wool. Where more wool is cut from one side than the other, it makes the sheep look one-sided, but done in a workman-like manner, it adds to rather than detracts from the looks of the sheep. FOR WOOL AXD MUTTOX. 105 One year we clipped the tags from about seven hundred and sixty sheep, which, after being washed three times in warm Boap-suds, weighed one hundred and eleven and one-half pounds. I calculate that at least one-quarter of this amount would have been lost, if it had remained on the sheep until the regular shearing, because it would have become formed into dung-balls or clipped off in fighting maggots. Say then that we saved thirty pounds ; at only forty cents a pound, it is worth twelve dollars. At one and a half cents per head for tagging, the operation cost ten dollars and ninety cents. The saving in wool paid for the labor, to say nothing of the avoidance of that most odious task that falls to the lot of the shepherd, the rid- ding of sheep from maggots. The ewes were heavy with lamb, but with careful handling, not one of them suffered any injury. Thus the udders were freed from wool, and the lambs all have clean, white faces, instead of the miserable, dung-smeared heads, which too often disgrace a flock. Tagging Wethers. — As wether lambs are apt to become fouled about the pizzle before shearing-time, and consequently fall a prey to maggots ; it is well to tag them in this place also, as well as about the vent. Even if no flies attack them, the wool becomes so clotted and heated with urine, as to create a festering sore. But I have never found it necessary to tag wethers under the belly after the first year's shearing. Clipping the Hoofs. — In all Merino flocks there is a certain percentage which will require to be caught and have their hoofs shortened twice a year ; sometimes a few will need it nearly every month. There is nothing better for this purpose than Dana's toe-shears ; and 1 have never found any better time for the operation in spring, than at the tagging. One man can catch and clip the toes, while another does the tagging. The operator, having caught the sheep, sets it on the buttock, with its back toward him, jams the left thumb between the hoofs to hold them well apart, and turns the shears in such fashion as to cut each segment of the hoofs from within, the inside being softer than the outside. If too thick and flinty, the hoof must be set on a solid block or board, and shortened with a chisel and mallet. Hoofs are always softest in wet weather. Policy of Washing. — A vast majority of experienced, well- informed shepherds are agreed upon three points : 1. Washing is an injury, both to the sheep and to the washer. 2. It is a benefit to the fleece. 106 THE AMERICAN MERINO 3. On account of the long-established, but more or less un- equal and unjust "rule of thumb," enforced by wool-buyers, by vh-tue of which unwashed fleeces are subject to deduction of one-third from the price of brook-washed cUps, the keeper of an ordinary, out-door, wool-bearing flock, must wash his sheep or suffer pecuniary loss. As to the first point, it is hardly worth while for the oppo- nents of washing to assert that it is injurious to the sheep of average robustness and accustomed to run out-doors ; it is suffi- cient to claim (what can be truthfully asserted), that it would be difficult to find a flock in such high and uniform condition, that some one or more would not suffer detriment in washing. And for the sake of these few weaklings, it is a pity that the flock could not escape the ordeal of being forced into the water, which the sheep, above all other domesticated animals, dislikes. By this I mean sudden and complete immersion. Every prac- tical shepherd knows that hardy and well-fed sheep, even thor- oughbred Merinos, will stand tranquilly through long winter rains, until their fleeces are saturated, when ten steps would carry them under shelter ; nor will they be injured a pai'ticle thereby. In the course of my experience, I have washed every year from five hundred to seven hundred sheep. Some years, when the weather was favorable, not only have I not lost any, but I could not discover that a single sheep was damaged. Other years, when cold rains supervened quickly upon washing, I have lost one per cent or more — a loss directly attributable to washing — to say nothing of the f alling-off in scores or hundreds more — undoubtedly a greater total loss than I should have suf- fered from selUng the clip unwashed. In the hilly region of Southern Ohio, in which my experience with sheep has been cast, foot-rot is extremely rare ; and I have never known, or heard of a case, where a flock contracted it on the road to the washing-pen, or in it. Yet, I am not in the least disposed to be-little the dangers from this source, which are urged by the opponents of washing as an argument of capital force and importance against the custom, where this malady prevails. As to the washers themselves, there are plenty of men, young and hardy, who could wash sheep all day, once a year, for a generation, and not perceive in themselves any f alling-off in physical vigor; yet none the less surely and inexorably they FOR WOOL A^B MUTTOX. 107 will suffer loss of vitality in the end. I have never known one to incur anything beyond a trivial chill or cold, which disap- peared under mild treatment. The old-fashioned practice of taking whiskey on this occasion, only made matters worse. Alcohol is specifically determined to the brain under natural conditions, and when, in addition, the blood is driven thither by the chill of the lower extremities, drunkenness is tolerably certain to ensue. All sheep are injured by washing, indirectly ; that is, by the necessity of wearing their fleeces in hot weather, while waiting for the water to get warm enough for washing. This is true of dry flocks, and still more so of suckling ewes. In the earher years of my shepherding, I often wondered why lambs, after springing forward rapidly for three or four weeks in the last of April and first of May, would then experience a decided check, becoming before shearing time, slightly "pot-bellied," less rangy, exhibiting those unmistakable, but often hardly de- Bcribable changes of form, by which the trained eyes of the shepherd detects stunting. I am now satisfied it was caused by the drying-up of the ewes' milk, as a result of the fevered blood produced by carrying heavy fleeces in the piece during the early heat of our American summer, Proof of this was fur- nished by the continued progressive thrift of lambs running alongside, whose mothers had been shorn before settled hot weather commenced. As to the second proposition, it is hardy necessary to state to a practical man that a washed fleece is easier to shear and easier to do up than an unwashed. " Shearing in the dirt " is hard work, and the fleece falls to pieces in a vexatious fashion on the table, especially if the sheep has been fed for the sham- bles, or is naturally very yolky. It is essential to the ready and accurate sorting of a fleece into the half-dozen or more grades to which it is ultimately assigned, that it should be kept well together, and w-ashing is a great aid thereto. For instance, if shoulder- wool is worth fifty cents a pound, and the belly-wool fifteen cents, and they are mingled together, the sorter will invariably classify the mixture below its real value, if he does not incontinently consign it all to the lower grade of the two. This does not concern the farmer, except in a large way ; he would not probably be paid by the wool-buyer a cent more for the well-folded fleece than for the jumbled one ; the growth and condition being the same in both. But it does react upon hiiu unfavorably in this way : It prejudices the manufacturer 108 THE AMERICAN MERINO against unwashed wool, and he makes it the subject of hostile discrimination. It is not worth while to go to the length of some advocates of ■washing, who assert that the buyer can not classify wool as correctly when unwashed as when it is washed. A genuine expert, though he may declare that he likes the feel of washed wool better, can pronounce upon the actual merits of a clip as well in one condition as the other. If not, he has mistaken his calling. As to the third proposition, it is not worth while here (for this work is addressed, not to wool-buyers, but to wool-growers), to enter upon an extended discussion of the justice or injustice of the " one-third iTile." I shall confine myself principally to the statement of a few practical facts, which will furnish the reader with a ready-made commentary upon this time-honored practice of tlie buyers. At my request, Mr. A. F. Breckenridge, of Brown's Mills, Ohio, who is one of our best breeders of full-bloods, furnished me a transcript from his flock book, which is of interest as bear- ing on the question of washing, In 1877 he washed fifty-eight sheep and sheared them about June 1 ; in 1878 he let the same sheep go unwashed and sheared them April 30. Both years he recorded the weight of every fleece to an ounce. I give these tables entire. It will be observed that I have worked out the percentage of loss for the first table. SIX-TEAR OLDS. FIVE-TEAR OLDS. Sheep's 41 45 46 49 50 52 58 54 55 57 60 61 62 xr i J I Un- iFerc'taqe Sheep^s ^^""'^'^wa^^hedA lost. \ No. Lbs. Oz. 8 Q2 6 09 6 00 6 00 6 04 5 01 6 07 6 04 5 14 6 11 5 12 6 10 7 12 J WasJied. Lbs. Oz. 9 02 11 26 7 02 10 t 29 7 01 14 30 7 00 14 33 7 08 17 39 7 08 33 42 8 00 20 43 8 00 21 56 8 06 30 ' 58 7 01 8 ' 59 6 12 15 1 63 8 01 18 1 9 10 20 1 Un- I Ferc'tage icashed. ' lost. 7 5 7 I 5 6 6 5 00 10 08 0.3 04 08 00 00 6 13 6 13 5 10 Lbs. Oz. Lbs. Oz. I 8 00 7 08 I 9 00 7 10 8 00 8 00 6 10 6 08 7 13 06 00 FOR WOOL AKD MUTT0:N'. 109 rOUR-TEA.R OI.DS THREE-TEAR OLDS. Sheep^s No. \^ ashed. Un- washed. Ferc^tage lost. Sheep^s No. Washed. Un- va^hed. PercHage lost. 65 66 Lbs. Oz. 5 08 6 12 5 14 6 08 10 00 11 00 8 00 7 11 6 11 7 00 6 02 10 13 5 12 6 12 5 00 7 00 Lbs. Oz. 8 04 7 03 8 13 9 04 12 00 11 12 9 12 10 00 10 02 10 08 8 00 11 08 7 02 9 06 8 02 9 12 i i 1 ...... ..\ • ■••■•••1 1 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 ! 90 ! 92 93 &4 95 96 97 98 Lbs. Oz. 10 00 9 00 11 00 10 03 9 12 7 12 9 01 8 12 8 01 9 03 8 02 7 08 8 12 6 11 8 12 8 02 8 00 8 02 Lbs. Oz. 10 06 9 OS 11 OJ 11 00 10 12 10 00 9 03 10 00 9 03 10 08 10 00 9 00 10 04 8 12 10 00 11 00 10 00 10 00 67 68 69 70 71 72 ■ 73 74 75 • ••*■•«•• • •■•■■••> 76 77 1 78 79 80 Of course these tables do not make a thoroughly fair exhibit, since the unwashed fleeces had only eleven months' growth. In the computations herewith following, I have in every instance added one-eleventh to the unwashed weights, though that gain is doubtless somewhat inaccurate, since the fleece would grow less than an average during the twelfth month. But it is prob- ably as near an approach to correctness as will ever be attained until some experimenter vv-ho can afford it shears a flock at the same date for several years, alternately washed and unwashed. I find that the three-year-olds suffered an average loss of one pound, foui'teen and two-thirds of an ounce per fleece, or nine- teen per cent, on an average fleece of eleven pounds. The four-year-olds suffered a loss of three pounds and one ounce, or twenty-nine per cent, on an average fleece of ten pounds and six ounces. The five-year-olds suffered a loss of two pounds and one ounce, or twenty-four per cent, on an average fleece of eight pounds and eight ounces. The six-year-olds suffered a loss of two pounds and one ounce, or twenty-four per cent, on an average fleece of eight pounds and eight ounces. In looking over the above tables, the reader will perhaps be surprised to observe that generally the heaviest fleeces, which doubtless lost most in the scouring-tub, lost least in the brook 110 THE AMERICAN MERINO or washing process. The explanation of this fact is, that where very yolky sheep are housed, the yolk becomes more or less inspissated, so that it does not yield to the solvent action of cold water. In confirmation of the showing of the tables in this respect, I will adduce a remarkable experience which was given me by another breeder of full-bloods, a perfectly trustworthy gentleman. He had a ram which he had shorn three years, and his heaviest fleece in that time was twenty-two pounds and twelve ounces. The fourth year he took him into the water, and with his own hands washed him thoroughly. After a lapse of two weeks he was shorn and yielded twenty-four pounds and four ounces ! There were occasional disturbing factors which produced ap- parent discrepancies in the above tables, as, for instance, the suckling of a lamb one year and not the other ; but, as a geo- logist would say, the extent of the plateau is so considerable that the location of the "■fault'* is scarcely discernible. Now, the average shrinkage on these four lots of sheep was twenty-four per cent. Reasoning from this fact, the farmer would probably arrive promptly at the conclusion that the de- duction on unwashed wool ought to be twenty -four per cent., (say, one quarter), instead of one-third required by the manu- facturer. But this view is erroneous. The fallacy lies in the fact, that the basis of all calculations as to the value of wool is the scoured j^ound, in other words, clean wool. This is the foundation of all reckonings. The manufacturer simply ascertains what the scoured pound is worth in the markets of the United States — X, XX, XXX, or picklock, quarter-blood or common, medium, or whatever the grade may be. Then he glances at a table in which are given the average rates of shrinkage of washed and unwashed wools, of the different grades, from different sections of the country ; with the value of each per pound. To illustrate, let us take the general average for the United States. Messrs. David Scull, Jr. & Bro., wool commission mer- chants of Philadelphia, in a letter to myself, stated that the rate of shrinkage in scouring is sixty-seven to seventy per cent, on unwashed Merino wool, and forty-eight to fifty-two per cent, on washed. (My friend, Mr. W. M. Brown, Superintendent of the Beverly Woolen Mill, ^ 40 §. ^ ^ ^ 1^ •&.§ i^ ^ Years. 3 1 2 3 3 3 7 1 1 2 2 4 2 1 1 3 1 Days. 372 365 372 376 376 370 360 360 365 360 358 365 371 365 ;!65 o35 od5 Lbs, 15 8 ' 28 17 16 28 21 13 12 25 18 17 25 ! 8 ' 6 I 16 Oz. Lbs. 5 10 4 8 3 14 1 7 6 7 1 10 13 14 8 27 17 15 28 20 13 12 25 18 17 25 7 6 Ki 11 Oz. Lbs. 13i 5 4 11 i 15 i 13 ! 11 ' Ik 4 i 3 5 6 ! 2 7 5 5 7 6 5 4 i 6 5 t 3 3 13 o b i 11 10 6 Oz. 9i 14 14 13i 6 15^ 12* Hi 121 3^ 61 4* 7* 3 i 3 lU Per ct. 62.32 65.16 71.69 65.69 66.78 72 40 67.15 61. Si 61. 3o 6:'. 05 C5.05 6'>.7S 70.82 55.39 48 05 30 03 4..or S 00 Si nsumed. The young shoots which sprout up in the ash- heap will be eaten off by the sheep much more thoroughly than those growing where there are no ashes. I have found it one of the best ways of renewing old moss-bound pastures, to fire them 126 THE AMERICAN MERIXO in a dry spell in the spring, when there is diy herbage enough on the ground to carry the flame ; then let the sheep have the range of them through the summer. They take a great deal of satisfaction in grazing, sleeping and stamping in the burnt dis- trict ; and, as above stated, they w^ill take much more pains to crop off the sprouts here than they will in unburned territory. The ashes must give them a relish ; probably it is the greater percentage of potash they contain, since sheep are noted for their fondness for and need of certain mineral ingredients in their feed. I have often observed their relish for tliese ash- fertilized plants ; they return to them again and again, crop- ping them down close to the ground, where they would scarcely taste them if growing in the open field. Every observing shepherd has noticed that sheep have their decided preferences in a rolling or hilly pasture, generally choosing a southern or eastern slope. Old farmers will tell you it is because the grass on these poorer, thinner exposures is shorter and sweeter. Probably this is one reason, but I cannot help thinking there is another. These southern slopes are nearly always wind-swept and sun-burned, and receive no stay- ing deposits of forest leaves ; hence the bed-rock is close to the surface, and frequently crops out in shelly ledges. This char- acter of the soil gives the grass a more mineral and earthy quality than is possessed by that growing on the north slopes ; for on these the soil is generally red clay, and strong with the humus or vegetable mold resulting from the rotted forest leaves of centuries. And the fondness of sheep for mineral ingredients in their feed was above alluded to. Hence they linger on these naked, wind swept, southern slopes, nibbling the already scanty grass into the very ground, and neglecting the rich, rank feed on the northern slopes until they are fairly "starved to it," often to the wonder and annoyance of the shepherd. In general, sheep are so nice in their tastes and preferences that a pasture of any considerable extent, especially if it has a diversity of soils and exposures, is apt to become patchy if left entirely to the sheep. They are fond of knolls for stamping- grounds and sleeping-grounds, and will manure them to excess if they have their own way. There are various ways of regulating these matters. A port- able fence might do good service here ; I never tried it. A few young cattle with the sheep will give their attention to the north slopes and the rank pasture spots, while the sheep are grazing on the shorter feed. The sheep themselves will dcpas- FOR WOOL A:N'D MUTTOi^". 127 ture these northern slopes in the fall when feed grows scarce ; but meantime much grass has grown up and died, so goiug to, waste ; and the briers make their whole summer growth un- checked. I have found it an advantage to run a permanent fence be- tween the north and the south slopes, so compelling the sheep to divide their time between them. Still, they will hang along the fence for hours, sleeping by it, waiting and watching for a chance to get through. So, as a still better measure, I generally keep one of my flocks in ignorance of the existence of certain south slopes, by never turning them on them ; thus, when it comes their turn to occupy the contiguous north slopes, in the rapid rotation which it is my policy to keep up during the sum- mer, they graze there quiet and contented. I am always more careful to keep the large briers and shoots cut on the north slopes ; I salt the flocks there whenever prac- ticable ; and burn all brush and trash which may accumulate there. All burs of whatever description ought to be cut, dried and burned before they get ripe enough to part from the plant. Burdock and Thistle burs are worse than Cockle burs, if pos- sible ; they burst asunder and fill the wool with the most odious prickles and filaments, while the hard burs can be removed whole. "NTo words of condemnation can be too severe for the farmer who allows burs to grow and ripen and get into the fleeces. Number of Sheep per Acre.— T. W. W. Sunman, of Spades, Ind., gives in the American Sheep-Breeder the following ex- perience : " "We took six head and put them on an acre of ground well set in grass containing some white clover, weU watered and good shade. They were turned in somewhere about the 12th or loth of April, and remained there until along in October without any additional feeding, when they were turned to early sown rye and pastures saved for fall pasture. The acre furnished all the pasture the sheep required and to spare. In the spring of 1880 we turned eleven head of one and two-year-old ewes upon this same acre of ground, and they re- mained there from May to October, receiving no additional feed, and had plenty of grass all the time. "In 1881 we took in one-half acre more land, making in all one and one-half acre ; upon this we pastured seventeen head of one, two and four-year-old sheep, consisting of fifteen ewes and two rams. There was aU the pasture the sheep wanted and 128 THE AMERICAN MERINO to spare, and we believe would have furnished pasturage for four or six more, but this was a good year for j)asture." But this is an exceptional case. When the shepherd, in going over bis pastures, finds an occasional grass-tuft pulled up by the roots, he may know that he is over-pasturing. I have kept twenty-three sheep in good condition on three acres nearly all summer. Necessity of Water. — If the nights are cool and there is a heavy deposit of dew every night, sheep will do well for a long time without water, if they have constant access to salt, so that they do not eat too much at any one time. Otherwise they ought to have water within reach all the time. A flock of ewes with lambs at heel, ought always to have free access to water, summer and winter, without regard to weather. Working off the Culls.— With a flock of considerable size this is one of the most difficult operations connected with its management. There is no prolit in grain-feeding old ewes or the long-legged, short-wooled, ungainly culls, into which a large flock, despite the most careful management, is continually "tailing out." Occasionally a batch of them can be sold to a neighbor who, having a fresh run, and wishing to keep only a small flock, can make something out of them when segregated into smaller bands ; but usually the only method practicable is to fatten them as quickly and cheaply as possible, and sell them for what they will bring. An old, toothless or splintery-toothed crone of a ewe, is an extremely poor piece of property. Scarcely better is a younger one yielding a short, dry fleece, or a short, yolky one which collects into hard, yellowish blocks, that almost require a ham- mer to soften them ; or with a bare belly and long, bare legs ; or with a tail set on low, and a weak, drooping neck. Of course, ewes that are in service will produce lighter and thinner fleeces from year to year, and some deflciency in this regard may be tolerated in one of exceptional excellence otherwise ; but if these faults appear in a younger sheep, it ought not to be re- tained after the flrst shearing. It is a capital mistake to allow an inferior sheep to drift into the breedmg flock, for then there will be two culls instead of one. Shippers commonly say they do not care how old a sheep is if it is only fat. But that condition which the ordinary fanner calls fat may be only "grass bloat," or it may be fat enough to make fairly good mutton for his own table ; but it will not en- FOR WOOL AND MUTTOX. 129 dure the long, rough ride to New York, Chicago, or Baltimore. How to make an old ewe fat enough for the shipper, is a diiS- ciilt matter. I generally succeed best with culls by putting them by them- selves, young and old ; feeding them all the wheat bran and corn meal they will eat (their teeth will be too sore to crack corn), and giving them the benefit of the first fresh cropping from each pasture. As soon as they have been on it a week or ten days, I pass them on to another fresh one, and let the main flock follow them up, taking each field in turn after them as soon as they leave it. By having three or four fields and swing- ing the flocks rai)idly through them in succession, I can keep the main flock very large — much larger than it ought to be in winter quarters — without detriment to it, and even keep them improving in flesh all the while for three or four months, until the culls are ready to turn off, when the main flock can be broken up small again before frost sets in. Old ewes and other refuse sheep ought to be pushed rapidly while the grass is tender ; like an old " shelly " cow, they are a drug in the market at best, and in the faU they will be crowded to one side by wethers. The butcher or shipper ought never to be required to take culls for the sake of getting good, straight wethers. Some shippers will not handle the former at any price ; they will have to be disposed of to some " cheap John " dealer for a bagatelle ; but for thoroughly good wethers the farmer can demand and obtain a good price. By all means keep the two classes separate. Teeth as an Indication of Age.— It is often the case that a man will develop into an excellent practical shepherd, but without a taste for keeping a record of his sheep by books marks, labels, etc. He will have frequent occasion to refer to the teeth as decisive of age. The milk or lamb teeth are easily- distinguished from the grass teeth by their smallness and dark color. The old rule among farmers was that a " full mouth " (eight grass teeth), denoted a four-year-old, each year bringing forth two new teeth ; but in the "modern improved breeds, un- less ill-fed, the grass teeth make their appearance about as fol- lows : The first pair at one year ; the second pair at eighteen months ; th3 third pair at twenty-seven months ; the fourth and last pair at thirty-six months, or three years. A Leg of Mutton. — A fat young ewe affords the best ripe mutton ; next, a young wether. The sheep selected for mutton 130 THE AMERICAIS' MERIXO should be kept quiet and cool in a dark place, twenty-four hours, without anything to eat, but with all the water it will drink ; above all things it should not be worried and heated. The neck being laid across a block, may be severed at a blow with an axe, and the flow of blood should be made as complete as possible by the butcher seizing a hind-leg and gently pulling and pushing with a foot on the carcass. The disemboweling and skinning should be quickly dispatched. Let the sheep be hung up, ripped, and the bowels removed ; then the skinning can be performed afterward. Immediately after the sheep is hung up, if a hole is made between the hind-legs and the abdomen filled up with very cold water, it will assist in pre- venting the ' ' sheepy " taste. When Daniel Webster said he learned in England the secret of good mutton, namely, that it improves with age, he must have meant that it grows better each day after it is butchered. The longer it can be kept the better, within decent Umits. If the farmer wishes to avoid surfeiting his family on mutton, let him convert a part of it — the legs preferably — into smoked "mutton hams" or corned mutton; then hang two or three good roasts down a deep well, and proceed with moderation in all things. The advice of the old English "quarter-of-mutton chant " to the cook is : " Let her boil the leg and roast the loin, and make a pudding of the suet," and the advice is sound. The roasted loin is always a juicy piece ; but the shoulder-blade, gently browned, with onion sauce or baked tomatoes, runs it close in the favor of gourmets, who will also generally be found to prefer a neck chop to one from ihe ribs, since in a coarse- grained sheep oil has a tendency to gather there. Charcoal or vinegar will remove what the Scotch call the *' braxy flavor," if it exists, though it should not be noticeable after the above precautions in butchering have been taken. The old English fashion of cooking before an open wood fire, as directed by Dean Swift, was very good ; but an intelligent cook can prepare just as choice a roast in a modern American stove- oven. If the sheep was young the piece may be put into the oven at once ; otherwise it ought to be macerated by boiling awhile, with the amount of water so gauged that when tender, it will be "done dry." Then let it be put into the oven, with this remnant of juice, and nicely browned ; and the gravy should be thickened with flour and water previously stirred together without lumps, and poured into the pan about ten minutes before it is taken out of the oven. FOR WOOL AND MUTTON". 131 Maggots. — Mr. E. J. Hiatt, the editor of The Shepherds' Na- tional Journal, and himself a shepherd of long experience and excellent judgment, gives the following : " Sassafras oil and alcohol, one-fifth of the former and four- fifths of the latter, mixed, will destroy maggots on short notice ; this is a safe and sure remedy and is particularly valuable to destroy maggots when they are located where it is diiiicult to get at them. They may be destroyed without shearing off the wool. " Turpentine has been used, but this is injurious to some sheep and cannot be used with safety when the sheep are allowed to run in the rain, and it is also unsafe in cases where the sheep is fevered and reduced in strength from being un- noticed or neglected, until its life was in great danger. Water should not be used as it only increases the danger of a second attack. There is much less danger of trouble with maggots when sheep are kept from the rain. "A Uquid is sometimes used, which is made by boiling or stewing the bark or stalks of the Elder. This is more trouble- some, but could be used in the absence of something better." I had come to the same conclusion as Mr. Hiatt respecting the use of turpentine, also benzine — both being too severe on the sheep in most cases. I salt twice a week until shearing-time, and carry to a field with me, besides the salt, the crook, some tar, and a pair of shears. If a sheep is seen to stamp and twitch its tail, catch it on the spot. When your suspicions are found to be correct, shear off close all the wool infested by the vermin, clean them off and apply tar thoroughly. If they have estab- lished any considerable footing, scrutinize with the utmost thoroughness the wool adjacent, for colonies of them will migrate around about and begin operations afresh. Ticks. — It is an impeachment of the shepherd's care and vigilance to have these abominable pests on his sheep, at least for any length of time, since they are hable to get into any flock through purchase. In the early summer is the time above all others in the year to give them the slip. After shearing they will disappear in two or three weeks from the shorn sheep, and part of those on the ewes will take refuge on the lambs. The grown sheep will need no more attention if they are kept in good growing condition through the summer, but unless the lambs are treated in some way, the vermin will survive through the summer, some will return to the ewes before weaning-time, and the remainder will be ready to begin their deadly work 132 THE AMEBIC AI^ ilERIIi^'O through the winter, as they seldom do much injury in summer. Ticks never flourish on fat sheep. Indeed, this rule holds good in reference to nearly all ovine parasites ; but it is almost an impossibility to get lambs in good condition when infested with ticks. It is not advisable to dip them in cold weather, but in summer it may be done with safety and benefit. Some shepherds recommend Eady's Sheep Dip, others carboKc acid, etc.; I have tried kerosene, snuff, sulphur (rubbed into the wool), and tobacco water and a solution of arsenic (as a dip). I think, all things considered, the tobacco-water is best, if the material is readily obtainable, though if applied strong it has a tendency to color the wool and make it harsh. Twelve or fifteen pounds of refuse tobacco and chopped stems; or six pounds of white arsenic, will make a solution sufficiently strong for one hundred lambs ; though with either one, a little of it should be tried on a few ticks before the dip- ping begins. A few gallons of water will suffice for the boiling, then the decoction may be diluted with about a barrel of cold water. The keeper of Merinos ought not to be troubled with ticks sufficiently (they are more troublesome on the British breeds) to justify the expense of making special dipping appa- ratus. Two wash-tubs or large iron kettles will answer the purpose. A person whose hands have no abrasions of the skin need not fear to plunge them freely into either the tobacco or arsenic de- coction. One hand should grasp the lamb's mouth and nostrils (to prevent it from getting the liquid into them), the other the fore-legs, while an assistant holds the hind-legs. The lamb should be lowered, back down, into the liquid and held there until it thoroughly pervades the wool nearly up to the eyes and the roots of the ears. Then let it be placed on its feet in the otlier tub, and the wool squeezed out. Unless this dipping is very thoroughly performed, some of the eggs of the ticks will escape, and in two weeks the operation must be repeated. In cold weather, as above remarked, dipping is not advisable ; but the ticks may be so held in check by means of sulphlir mixed in the salt that they will work the lambs little or no injury until shearing-time comes. Indeed, some very good practical shep- herds of my acquaintance assert that they destroy or prevent ticks altogether by the use of sulphur, putting three pounds of sulphur to five of salt, and giving about a handful of the com- pound twice a week to forty or fifty sheep in their feed. In the summer they are not molested by them, and in the fall, if any FOR WOOL AND MUTTOX. 133 are discoverable, they renew the sulphur. When feeding sul- phur, I am careful to keep lambs housed from storms. My experience with sulphur has been so satisfactory that I should never bother with kerosene, snuff, mercurial ointment, or any other substance to be rubbed into the wool. Salting. — I take it for granted that every flock-master who peruses these pages never denies his sheep salt, unless it may be from occasional neghgence. By keeping it in a covered trough and taking account of the quantity consumed during a series of weeks in earlv summer, I ascertained that an average sheep requires about one-eighth pint per week. During a pro- tracted drouth, or late in autumn, when the grass has become dry, sheep consume less salt than in the spring when the grass is washy. Strong, healthy sheep, well cared for otherwise, may flourish for an indefinite period without any salt ; but every flock-master of extended experience, who has turned that ex- perience to account, is well satisfied that salt is very beneficial to sheep, and that the money it costs is well expended in ward- ing off disease. In a journey through New Mexico several years ago, I con- versed with a resident wool-grower, Mr. Anton Lippart, who stated a remarkable fact in his experience. One winter during a severe and protracted drouth, he lost about twelve hundred sheep, while a neighbor similarly situated lost less than a score. His neighbor saved his sheep vntli salt and water ! The liberal supply of salt so toned up and stimulated the sheep, that they consumed the coarsest feed and turned everything to account. It is wasteful to salt sheep on the ground, even in the cleanest places, but this system has its compensating advantages m that it compels the flock-master to see his sheep once a week, which he might otherwise neglect to do. By scattering the salt in a circle of handfuls, he can count and inspect every member of a large flock. I never found it worth while to provide a covered trough, except in one case, and that was as a receptacle for salt and copperas as a preventive of Paper-skin in lambs. (See Chapter on Diseases). The salt-trough in the pasture serves another useful purpose in accustoming lambs to eat from a trough as a preparation for weaning. The Dust Bath.— Some writers and practical men recom- mend tar, smeared in the salt-trough, and thence attaching it- self to the animals' noses, as a repellant of the gad-fly and a preventive of the deposition of its eggs. In a close-fenced and 134 THE AMERICAN MERIXO cleared pasture, with no shade, except that beside the fence, tar, or whale oil, may be rubbed on their noses with good effect. I attach great importance to shade and dust. If on the top of some commanding hill or knoll, there is a clump of trees under which the breeze draws cool and refreshing, here the sheep wiU always be found congregated in the heat of the day, and here each one will wear out, by stamping, a little circular depression for himself in which, with evident satisfaction, he will lie down and get up many times a day, paw, turn round, and otherwise raise a dust into which to thrust his nose. He will lie for an liour or more with his nose close pressed against the ground, inhaling the dust. It is an instinct ; ne seeks in this way to escape his enemy. The gad-fly is more apt to trouble lambs and tegs than older sheep, and I deem it a matter of importaripe to provide for these, if possible, an enclosed building as a refuge during the heat of summer. Even a shed with only one side, if it is some- what dark and cool, is a better protection against the :Sy than the open field or a thin coppice. Weaning Lambs. — If they are thriving as well as they ought, lambs need not run with the ewes above four months. They will be more quiet if left in the field they are accustomed to, with the ewes removed out of sight and hearing. If there are shade and water in the field which they know where to find, they will help themselves. If not, they ought to be driven to water every day ; and it is a good plan to fetch them to the stable before the sun gets very hot, to prevent them from rambling aimlessly about the field, panting in the sun- shine, or crowding into the fence-corners. The lambs should have a fresh rowen or an upland pasture, if one is available, well stocked with June grass, Red-top, or some other short, tender, nutritious grass. There should be strips of forest in it, with shady knolls for stamping-grounds, where they may find an abundance of the dust which is so essential to tlieir health during the dog days. An old ewe should be left with them for a flock-leader. If they are accustomed during the summer to a stationary sal t-trongh, the task of teaching them to eat feed will be reduced to a trifle, as they will approach the troughs freely. A mere dusting of salt should be sprinkled on their feed for a few days (being withheld from them other- wise) ; after that it may be left in quantity in the trough appro- priated to it, or spriiikled on a clean sod. It is of the hii^hest importance that lambs and yeai'lings should have daily access FOR WOOL AN"D MUTTOI*r. 135 to salt, summer and winter, at least in a humid climate. I will give a brief description of my mode of making a salt-trough. For the supports take two equal pieces of one-and-a-half-inch plank, fifteen inches wide, and saw notches in the top deep enough to receive the trough. Make the trough V-shaped, six- teen feet long, of boards six inches wide, using for end-boards the pieces sawed out of the plank. Let the supports be about eighteen inches long, and nail to them, one on each side of the trough, upright standards. Across these standards at the top nail two V-shaped pieces to support the roof, which is made Kke the trough and turned bottom up. The standards must be high enough to allow the sheep to insert their heads freely be- tween the roof and trough, which requires a space of about nine inches. For a safe, nutritious, healthy, universally available and everywhere procurable feed for weaned lambs, there is nothing wliich is comparable to wheat bran. I find it profitable to en- rich it by the addition of a little shorts or oil-cake meal. In default of this, let a small proportion of oats be introduced into the ration when the frost falls, and some corn when the snow flies. Buckwheat bran is too coarse and rough for lambs. Tagging Lambs. — Merino lambs four months old should have wool of considerable length, and in the heat of midsum- mer this renders them liable to the invasion of those detestable vermin, the maggots. Out of a flock of one hundred and thirty lambs, I have lost over twenty id less than two weeks from this source alone. Of late years I have invariably tagged at wean- ing all the ewe-lambs, and as many wethers as showed signs of fouling about the pizzle. In very hot, muggy weather sheep will sometimes become fly-blown anywhere about the fleece if there is the least fetor attaching to the animal, around the hoofs, the head, the wrinkles, or the natural orifices of the body. The most rigid cleanliness must be maintained to carry lambs through the dog-days in bad years. Four hours' work in tasging may save ten times that amount of the most odious drudgery the shepherd has — fighting the maggots. Summer Housing and Feeding. — Some very good shepherds, indeed a great majority of the keepers of stud-flocks, give their sheep a little hay all summer. It is only a very little, and that of very sweet hay. A still smaller number give lambs and choice rams a daily ration of grain, generally consisting of wheat bran and oats mixed in about equal portions. It is 136 - THE AMERICAN MERIK'O claimed that this dry feeding in summer steadies the animal's appetite, acts as a corrective of acidity and flatulency, a pre- ventive of colic and scours, and a general tonic to the system ; this more especially when the weather is exceptionally wet and the grass slushy. To the breeders of high-priced standard sheep there is undoubtedly much force in this argument ; they find profit in the course above indicated ; and, conducted within the careful, reasonable limits implied in the foregoing statement, it affords no just ground for the odious charge of pampering. Neither have I any quarrel with the veteran shepherd who chooses to house his flock every day in the year, and who would suffer a load o£ hay to take a shower rather than a dozen favor- ite sheep. It would argae the height of folly t3 assume that he does not know his business, and that this policy is necessarily incompatible with common honesty. Oar countrymen who breed fine stock may be trusted to discover ultimately those methods which will develop that stock to the acme of symmetry and beauty. And it cannot be denied that a Merino systematic- ally housed and blanketed is much more pleasing to the view than one which exposure has rendered rough and shaggy. The soft, moist feel of the exterior, devoid of clots or indurations ; the rich, dull luster of orange or gold revealed in the deep clefts between the blocks when opened ; the fibers glistening, when held up separate, with a pellucid, semiliquid unguent — these are eminently satisfactory to the admirer of fine sheep. A fleece which has been housed for some time and is then exposed to the rains, bleaches out dirty-white, yellowish, yellow-gray, brown, or remains black, according to the consistence of the yolk ; the latter has its stratifications destroyed and is washed down into the wool and into disfiguring masses like the drift along a stream, etc. A frost on a fleece is considered even more injurious to its appearance than a rain. I appreciate the artistic perception which delights in the full and fat exterior ; the soft, flannel-like fleece, which yet offers a firm and thick handful where grasped ; the eyes closely walled about with wool ; the silken white nose and ears ; the comfortable, buttoned-up chin and cheeks— the perfect presentment of hearty and well-fed opulence. All these things may be fair and honest, they may be matters of legitimate pride and art. Everything depends on the master's motive in this summer feeding and housing. These practices will be found only in stud or standard flocks. And when it becomes necessary for the farmer to bring sheep FOR WOOL AXD MUTTOX. * 137 down from the high level of the stud-flock to the niveau of the plain, out-door, wool-bearing flock, he will find — such has been my exi3erience — that hardly any amount of summer-housing will unfit the sheep for a gradual, progressive and judicious initiation into the ways of a working flock, but that irreparable mischief may be wrought by high feeding. My father once bought a ram for four hundred dollars, which soon developed goitre and partial impotency, and died when he should have been in his prime. It was a mystery to him at the time, but subsequent investigation revealed that lie had been grossly pampered. I paid a high rent for a ram one year, and out of seventy-five ewes served by him, a great part came in heat a second time, and less than forty bore lambs of his getting. He was a large and powerful two-year-old, but in less than a year he died sud- denly and mysteriously. He had undoubtedly been over-fed, but not intentionally, as his owner made honorable restitution. Over-feeding and excessive fatness are the cause of some barrenness among Merino ewes, and, as indicated in a previous chapter, of weakness, under-size and lack of constitution in lambs. But the unscrupulous men who practice pampering on their show-sheep and their sale-sbeep are well aware of this fact, and do not allow themselves to be losers from their dis- reputable doings. A friend informs me that, during a visit to the farm of a noted breeder in Vermont, after looking long and with unelisguised admiration at the various flocks paraded for his inspection, he inquired in some surprise where his breeding flock was. He was told that they were " not in good condition to be seen," but, on insisting somewhat, he was conducted to a stony, rugged hill-pasture, where they found the ewes literally "roughing it" — a shaggy-looking lot, but rosy-skinned and hardy, the very picture of health and thrift ! The Merino is tolerant of much abuse, and when well-fed it will submit to the most rigid imprisonment for a long time with impunity and with apparent thrift. Indeed, for animals fat- tening for the shambles, destined to be butchered in a few months, this confinement is probably conducive to the highest profit ; but stock sheep subjected to it will go to pieces in the end. Exercise, labor, work, is the law of all being ; and a violation of it will inexorably entail the penalty at last. 138 THE AMEBIC AN MERINO CHAPT-EE XIV. FROM GRASS TO HAY. Sheep in Corn. — In seasons when there is not much wind and the corn stands up well, it is frequently advisable to turn flocks of young sheep into the standing corn a week or two be- fore cutting it begins. There are many leaves on the lower por- tion of the stalks which are never harvested, besides weeds which impede the labor of cutting, all of which sheep will con- sume for a change. It is best to alternate the flocks, shifting them every few days. To one not accustomed to the experience, it is surprising to see how clean and tidy a flock will clear up a corn-field — what an immense amount of trash they wfll con- sume. But it is necessary to be on the lookout for the equi- noctial storms. I once had a flock caught in a two-days' rain, and they bogged down to the middle in the plowed ground, so that we had to carry some out a-shoulder. In Orchards. — Sheep are better scavengers in a bearing orchard than hogs, notwithstanding they will bark small trees. Even if ringed, hogs will exterminate most grasses in a small lot, but orchard grass will flourish under the trees and under the hardest gnawing of the sheep. Besides that, sheep will eat up all the windfalls, no matter how small, bitter, astringent or rotten, with a more unquestioning appetite than swine ; hence they protect the trees more effectually against insect enemies. It is mainly old suckling ewes that damage the trees, and these only in the spring when herbage is scanty. They may be pre- vented from gnawing the bark by an application of coal tar, kerosene, tar, or a wash prepared by mixing one quart of soft soap, one quart of lime, one quart of pine tar with three gal- lons of sheep, cow or hen manure, stirring in a sufficient quan- tity of water to make it about the same consistency as ordinary whitewash. Applj^ to the body of the trees with a whitewash brush, splint broom, or with the hand well protected with a heavy cloth mitten. This wash will protect the trees against injury from sheep, except the rams' horns, and is also conducive to the growth and health of the trees. It is valuable in pre- venting the damages so frequently done by insects, worms, etc.; for this purpose apply as near the roots as possible, and as often as it is washed off by the raia from the body of the tr33. FOR WOOL AI^D MUTTON". 139 But most farmers in the busy season will forget to renew the application, and at best it will not prevent damage by the rams' horns. Hence I have found the best practical protection to be stakes ; locust stakes will last from six to ten years or more. A few sheep may be kept in an orchard which does not afford enough herbage for their support ; and, if fed on pumpkins, turnip-tops, apple pomace, salt-hay, brewers' grains, sweet-corn fodder, or f odder-corn, they will rid the orchard of every weed, down to yellow dock, burdock, elder, poke, and even stunt the thistles if salt is thrown around them. But they incur some risks ; I once had a valuable ewe choked by a cUngstone peach. Soiling Sheep. — Green feed soon becomes stale in a rack ; it is necessary to feed sheep " little and often." With the mutton- breeds what may be called out-door soiling, or hurdle-feeding on roots, rape, mustard, etc., is often found profitable ; but it will seldom repay the labor to soil Merino sheep in the ordinary meaning of the term, except as above suggested, in an orchard or some small lot which it is desired to free from weeds and briers. Maintaining an even Condition. — I wish to impress strongly upon the mind of the inexperienced flock-master the necessity of keeping up an even, uniform condition, a progressive growth in his flocks, throughout the year. Not only do the horse and steer give quicker note of a falling-off (by their hair beginning to stand out straight and other indications), than the sheep whose carcass is deeply hidden from the master's eyes in a voluminous fleece ; but the horse and the steer, by reason of their stronger muscular and vascular systems, will also more easily recover from a temporary decline. After the fairs are all over and the show-sheep turned out, the ribbons laid away as trophies, the busy farmer — busiest now of all times of the year — is apt to neglect his flocks, and they enter upon the down-grade. But all the while he is driving his fall work, or perhaps chatting at the corner-store, there is a secret recorder that is every day, like the priest behind the wall in the Inquisition, laying up secret evidence against him, jot- ting down its own note and comment, which the expert may open and read. What is this mysterious spy ? It is the fiber of the wool. Let the sheep be neglected a few weeks in the late autumn and lose condition, let it fall sick, let it even be violently chased by dogs for twenty minutes, and the fiber will be '* jointed," there wiU 140 THE AMERICAN MERINO be a weak place in it which will cause it to break in the cards or the loom. The reader may puff out his cheeks at this as a mere bit of sentiment ; but there is a case on record where a Boston expert told the much-wondering farmer that he had moved his flock from a wooded to a prairie region, and informed him in what month he did it — all from the simple evidence furnished by the fleeces. Eternal vigilance is the price of good wool. The perfect Merino fiber of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia - true and sound, of a uniform diameter throughout its whole extent — admirably typifies the ceaseless care and the untiring industry of the true shepherd ; while the staple of Austraha, thin at one end, thick at the other, with perhaps one or more attenuations between, fitly represents a slipshod, " feast-and-f amine " system of husbandry. Fall Care. — All the flocks, especially the lambs and the breeding ewes, should be vigilantly watched at this time of the year. As soon as heavy frosts begin to fall the sheep ought to be housed at night, and not turned out in the morning until the frost disappears, as they will frequently wander around an hour or more, doing themselves no good and the pasture much damage. Wherever they touch a frosty clover-leaf or other tender herbage, it is ruined, whereas if it had been allowed to thaw out untouched, it would have been uninjured. I never lost any sheep from frozen clover, but it will physic young sheep and put them in ill condition to enter winter quarters. If the autumn has not been too rainy, second-growth clover, cut and cured, will be excellent feed to shade off on from grass to hay — for the ewes ought to have a little dry feed in their mangers while waiting in the morning for the frost to melt. But in a wet season, clover rowen is not fit for hay ; it will " slobber " anything except hogs. I have had sheep killed by it. The farmer can easily tell whether it will be safe to harvest it by testing a horse with it while green. Very rank clover, grown on river bottoms and cut while green, will sometimes cause ewes to *' slink " their lambs ; even the first cutting has done this, to say nothing of the second ; at least, such has been my experience. Yet I should not hesitate to give upland clover to pregnant ewes without stint. Fall Feed for Lambs. — One year my pastures were much curtailed by a severe drought, and I was somewhat puzzled how to provide for my lambs a supply of that succulent herbage FOR WOOL AND MUTTOX. ;! '41 which is so necessary to their thrift. The cossets running about the house had access to a turnip-patch of two or three acres, and, observing them cropping the tops, I conceived the idea of turning the entire flock into the patch for a limited time each day. The plan worked admirably ; in course of time the lambs had completely stripped off the tops, thus saving me tlie most onerous part of the labor of harvesting turnips, and they had only here and there taken a mouthful from a turnip, not impairing them in the least for use the following spring. It supplemented the fall feed admirably, and carried the lambs into winter quarters in excellent condition. A slight tendency to scours developed itself after the tops were severely frosted, but it was easily corrected by lessening their daily run on the turnips and increasing the ration of hay and bran. Pumpkins are good feed for lambs in autumn (see Chapter on Paperskin). They wiU eat them tolerably well if broken up on a veiy clean and close sward ; but it is better to provide flat- bottomed troughs with compartments, each being large enough to receive the half of a pumpkin split in such fasliion as to lie flat, with the inside uppermost. Acorns are a valuable resource for gi'own sheep, but I have not had favorable results when I allowed lambs to run freely in an oak forest. The acoms have almost invariably been pro- ductive of scours. One thing is certain— lambs must be grained liberally, or else they must have a very choice reserve of gi'een feed to wind up the grazing season on, or they will lose ground and go into winter quarters on the down grade. I feed my lambs more grain in November than in January. In January they are well established in their winter habits and have an abundance of the best and sweetest hay ; whereas in November they are in a transition condition, gathering up under protest the leavings of the summer grass which the frost has weakened. I mix one part oats to two of bran, and of this I give about a bushel and a half a day to one hundred head. At the End of the Season.— Sometimes an inch or two of snow will fall on the grass before it is time to bring the flocks into winter quarters, and lie a few days ; or it may be desirable for other reasons to keep the sheep out a little beyond such time as the pasturage, unaided, would keep them in good flesh. 1 have found it advantageous under these circumstances to carry out, say a half bushel of shelled corn to the hundred grown sheep, and sow it broadcast on a short, clean sod. This 142 THE AMEEICAK MEEINO enables all to share equally. On the north hillsides grass nearly always grows ranker than elsewhere, and the sheep will pass by these strong-growing patches all summer. Late in the fall they can be made, with the help of a small ration of corn, to depasture them down and so leave the pasture uniform. These tussocks would otherwise afford a winter harbor for ground mice. Sometimes I have found it advantageous to keep a few young cattle with a flock ; they will graze these north hillsides, while the sheep will keep on the south slopes. CHAPTER XV. SELECTION AND CARE OF RAMS. Constitution. — " A steep rump and a crooked leg," is one 6t the shepherd's catch-words. A crooked leg generally means also a " cat-ham," and a cat-ham is usually a sign of weakness. Still, however objectionable these points may be, they are not to be compared with flat nostrils (almost invariably accom- panied by catarrh and a disgusting accumulation of mucus in the nares) ; weak pasterns, causing the animal to walk some- what flat-footed, plantigrade, or bear-fashion ; a straight, thin, ewe-nose ; and a fine ewe-fleece — all of which denote a poor constitution. The test of supreme importance is the bright, rosy skin. A ram may have excrescences ; yet if he has this, he possesses vigor. Mr. G. B. Quinn's "Red Legs " had a shambling anatomy, thin shoulders, and steep rump ; yet he had great power. Mr. C. C. Smith's "Silver Horn" was excessively wrinkly, as the annexed measurements show ; still he had sufficient vigor. " Silver Horn," live weight 138' /o pounds. Length 3 feet 7 inches. Total length (including wrinkles) 9 " 5 Through shoulders 7Vn " Through hips... 9Vio " Height 2 '' 2 " Length of neck 1174 " Girth (about the heart) 3 " '/^ " AVidthofloin 6 '* Width of escutcheon 7 " Length of nose 8'/q ** Length of nose not wooled lYa *' Depth of flank wrinkle GVb " Escutcheon wrinkle overlaps 2Vi2 " FOE- WOOL A^sTD MUTTON. 143 o » JO i Q M !zS Q H O a 01 CO QB § CD O o aa i H O a o 144 THE AMERICAN MERIJS^O Points of a Good Ram. — Let him have cleaxi, short, shining hoofs, which never require the toe-chppers ; a round barrel ; a good diameter through the hams and shoulders ; a neck well set on, tliick, powerful, devoid of the feeble Saxon droop just in front of the shoulders ; a nose held nearly i)erpendicular, arched, reddish, covered with fine corrugations, and in mature age, having two deep channels running from the inner cornei's of the eyes slanting down athwart the face ; nostrils round and well-opened ; eyes large and brilliant ; horns, when grown, making one turn and a half, close to the head, spanning clear across the forehead, deep, with a sharp, cutting edge under- neath, and with clean, clear-grained wrinkles, thickly set to- gether. Let his ears be hot, so that blood will flow freely from a cut. A cold-eared, cold-blooded animal is of no value. Such a sheep does not possess sufficient animal heat to keep his yolk liquescent and diffused to the extremities of the fibers. The scrotum should be well covered, the wool joining on to the belly ; the spermatic cords thick and large, and the investing skin of a bright, ruddy color. A long, pendulous scrotum with small cords betokens a weak constitution. I like to see the neck swelling into voluminous folds, especially a liberal apron ; the body plain ; the stifle and ham slashed with two or three ob- liquely transverse wrinkles free from gare. But best of all is a broad, horseshoe-shaped escutcheon, a tail nearly as wide as a man's two hands, with the skin at the sides folded and tucked under, which indicates, in my opinion, generous breeding and generous blood. The Hiatt Bro.'sram, '" Ohio," had the finest escutcheon I ever saw on any sheep. As to fleece, so far as my observation goes, the more vigorous the ram, generally, the whiter the wool he produces. I know full well the beauty of those fleeces which, as the animal's body bends a little to one side, reveal deep rifts of a rich reddish- yellow, like the color of California gold ; but they are not so hardy generally. A ram should be sought that has a short and broad head, and powerful jaws, the lower one spread well apart. Between the lower jaws and under the tongue are the salivary glands, and if the jaws are well spread these glands will be large and afford a good supply of saliva, a very important ingredient in digestion. When the head is long and the jaws lacking in width, these glands will be small and not yield sufficient to carry on diges- tion with a force always assuring the animal's good condition. Opposites to be Mated. — Another important point is to se- FOR WOOL AXD MUTTOT^. 145 lect none but those that appear full of life, wide awake, with eyes not partly closed, but wide open. An active temperament is always indicated by bright, sparkling eyes and the two set well apart. A ram with the right form and temperament when crossed with ewes unlike himself, will give an increase, carry- o5' a a Q> 1^ Q ing heavier fleeces than sire dt dam. In chemistry it requires two distinct properties to produce the third ; it takes two dis- tinct gases to make a drop of water, and two opposite winds to blow the misty vapor together to form rain drops ; and in gen- eration two opposites are required to produce strong and healthy issue. It looks as though the power that governs the universe 140 , THE AMERICAN MERINO had a great aversion to perfect sameness, for there are no two things in nature exactly alike ; and few animals of the same family and line of breeding are so near alike as not to be easily distinguished one from the other. And because this is so, it is hard to tell if ever a point could be reached beyond which no improvement could be made. The question of in-and-in breeding often comes up for discus- sion among the best breeders of all kinds of stock. It is fully settled to be safe, to a certain degree, but in all such experi- ments as these, a full knowledge of the traits and qualities pe- culiar to both lines of ancestry must be possessed by the breeder, or serious mistakes will be made. In sheep breeding it rarely occurs that any chance need be taken in this particular. Near relatives may be coupled with better results when there is a sufficient distance existing between, than can those that are too much alike, when there is no relationship existing. Correlation op Wool and ^olk. — It is a common remark of the keepers of stud-flocks, that the rams which scour the most wool shear the heaviest fleeces. This may be set down as the major premise in a favo>rite Une of argument, while the minor premise would be, that the heaviest fleece is what the wool-grower wants. Another common ar