Arizona citizen., 1874-08-29
ABOUT SHEEP AND WOOL.

A OOAs
 The sheep and wool business is becom- ing of so much importance in this locali- ty, and is so certain to increase in extent and value, that we shall from time to time print useful information on the subject. Larkin w. Carr handed us the following which originally appeared in "The Re- sources of California;" and is a summary of letter from the noted sheep-grower, J. D. Patterson of southern California, to William $. Chapman of San Francisco, the latter being also largely engaged in the same business. Here is the matter:
 He says: The reason why he, as we'll as Vermont breeders, like the very oily wools and wrinkled bucks, is that both add largely 10 their weight of fleece-besides wool manufacturers and wool buyers will always pay more per fleece for that kind than they will for light, dry wool. \ wise Providence, continues the writer, has giv- en t he MerinO sheep oil to promote growth life and elasticity to their wool, as we'll as protection to them during wet and stormy weather. Their fleeceS being thick and oily. the water runs off easily, without penetrating to the skin; while a dry wool sheep, destitute of oil, absorbS the rains like a sponge, which keeps them wet and COlOS, COUSI1Sj CttbdIIIl, dIlu III very cold countries like New York and Canada, premature death. MT. Patterson having been extensively engaged in the sheep breeding business in both Califor- mia and New York, says, in speaking of the COtswold, Lincolnshire, or any Of the other breeds of the dry, loose, open wool sheep, they are not so hardy as the Meri- nos.
 A MerinO ram without wrinkles he would not use even in a flock of grade sheep, much less Tn flock of pure Meri- nos, especially if he were breeding rams to sell. The more wrinkles there are, the more surface there is to shear over, conse- uuently everything else being equal, the greater weight of the fleece.
 In answer to a question asked by Mir. Chapman recently in letter, as to the propriety of introducing rams from Aus tralia for the purpose of improving Cali fornia sheep, MT. Patterson says: "If I were the owner Of your flock, or a flock of the same purity of blood, would rather put a wolf in it than an Australian ram, for the wolf would probably kill outright what he injured, and the remainder of the flock would be left uncontaminated. But the injury from the ram if his lambs were allowed 10 remain and mix with the Oth CTS, would not only injure your flock for wOOl-groWing purposes, but also destroy it's reputation for breeding purposes So that instead of selling all your surplus rams every year at good prices, as you are now doing, you would be compelled, inn agine, to either sell them at grade ram prices, or else make WetherS of them and sell them 10 the butchers for what they would bring" MT. Patterson thinks IL would be good policy and good sense for the Australian breeders to buy and breed from MesSrs. smith and ChapInan'S rams instead. He gives many sound reasons why he so strongly opposes the lntroduc- tion of Australian rams into HOcks of pure MerinOS. He says the Australian sheep are not what would ill California be called pure MerinOs, but are more like the saxon MerinOs which were common in Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, from thirty to fifty years ago. They had fine wool but light fieeces. They were long in the leg, and otherwise badly formed. But the whole stock ill these States has since run out. A flock in any Of the eastern or mid dle States could not be so effectually damned as to have it understood they had even the remote cross of f5aXOny blood, as the SaXons proved neither fit nor suitable for wool growing or for the butcher. MT. P. gives several well authenticated inStan- ceS of SaXOny rams having been intrOduc- ed into f1ockS of pure MerinO sheep many years ago, which resulted in the deteriora- ton and death of that flock. One instance will suffice. In 1S44, a gentleman in one of the Atlantic States said, that although he had paid great many thousand dollars for SaXOny sheep, yet if the bridge had
  the river to put them on his farm, it would have been 9 great many thousand dollars in his pocket, aside from what lie had pad for them, as he had ruined all of his Sheep by this introduction into his pure Spanish Merino flock. MT. Patterson re- lates instances of SaXOny rams having been brought from Australia to California a few years ago, and says in his letter that they were found to be too light shearers to be profitable. He also says that not sin gle animal of those lots can be found that has been kept pure.
 Mr. Patterson has had a great deal of ex- perience in sheep-breeding, and conse- Quently is well qualified to give advice. He sums up in his letter by remarking that in every instance that has come un- der his own observation or that he has ev- CT heard of, where persons had pure Span ish Merino flockS, and supposed that by crossing with the SaXOny Merino rams or their Spanish Merino ewes, they could make their wool still finer, and add there by much to the value of their sheep, it has proven to be fatal mistake. He thinks that the common sheep of California would be vastly more benefited by breed ing from rams in MesSrS. Smith and Chap mans flock than those from Australia.
 A CIRCULAR from the War Departament, Adjutant-GeneraPs Office, is published,