Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-02-16
AGRICULTURAL.

REPORT OF THE VERMONT srERISo SHEEP BREED
ERs' ASSOCIATION, HELD IN MIDDLEDuRY,
JAN. 10, 1877.
The Executive Board of the Vermont Ne
rino Sheep Association have to report the As
sociation organized on the 22d of March last,
with MANY doubts, under many discouraging
circumstances, and amid many prophesies OF
failure, has made more progress than its most
sanguIne friends dared hope, until now 1t
stands no longer doubtful experiment but
a well assured success. The breeders of the
State have rallied to its support and as they
have investigated its claims and importance,
have taken hold of the work with such earn
estness as to dispel all fears of its failure,
and give promise Of its issuing the first vol
ume of its recorded pedigrees of fiocks at an
early da y, and that 1t will only be hindered
by the n umbers who are now striving to get
their flo cks entered in the records OF an in
stitution that already is looked to as the
standard authority on the pedigrees of YER
mont merinos, not only by most OF the flock
owners OF our State, but by those who are
looking to her fiocks for pure blood to i'm
prove their own. as well as by those who are
about to establish new hocks.
The great success of our undertaking is,
in good part, perhaps, due to the new life
interest by the great triumph Of Vermont
merinos at the Centennial Exhibition at
Philadelphia, where those from other States
had hoped to secure the honor Of showing
the best sheep, and thus prove to the world
that, with many of our best sheep, they had
also succeeded in transplanting the prestige
of the fame of our best focks to their own
States, and that with the decline of few OF
our noted fiocks we had no others Of like ex-
cellence to supply their places, SO that now
those who would get the best must look else
where than in Vermont for them. To make
their success more complete they had hoped
by a local register, under a national name,
managed by a local committee, to make it
appear that their own sheep were much high
er IN the scale of excellent points than any in
Vermont. These gentlemen who thought
the time had arrived for them to claim the
superiority Of their sheep over those of YER
mont, have learned that the mantles of her
iormer breeders have fallen upon the shoul-
ders of younger students of theirs, who are
able, not only TO keep the excellence of her
hocks up to the old-time standard, but to ad-
vance to still higher grades Of improvement,
and that to beat the best sheep of Vermont
In 1876. the possession of something better
than she sold in 1866 is necessary. Another
lesson 1t would be we'll for them to learn, as
wei dS lOE NtTluU1I DrtcuSrh 10 appreciate,
Is, that with all the advantages of more lib
eral, bouuteous keep and the shorter winters
Of milder climate, it is easier to increase
the bulk of carcass than to maintain the
wool-bearing power of the animal, and if
they would keep their flocks up to the high
est capabilities for wool-bearing, they must
resort to the 1ocks of Vermont to improve
their own, or even to keep them from deteri-
Grating, and that this infusion of our best
blood must be of frequent occurrence. With
all the study, intelligence and enterprise of
Vermont breeders, second to none elsewhere,
their greatest advantage is the natural one of
the air and climate of their State, which SO
materially seconds their efforts to increase
the wool-bearing pcser of their docks of fine
woolled sheep.
For the great success of our sheep at the
Centennial, We are under great obligations to
the Vermont Wool Growers Association for
furnishing the funds to defray the expenses
OF the show of Vermont sheep F; TO the Hon.
S. G. Holyoke, OF St. Adams, who SO ably
and faithfully acted in the capacity of super
intendent nt their exhibition ; to other gen.
tlemen who co-operated with and assisted
him in carrying'out his well formed and wise
plans; and last, but far from least, to those
flock masters in Vermont who were able and
willing to send sheep that were pronounced
the best at the show, and received the high
est awards wherever there was direct compe-
tition, and took every special premium offer
ed
BY the report Of the treasurer it will be
seen that the finances Of the Association are
IN healthy condition, and its funds ample
to carry on its work, with such further reali-
cations of its assets as are confidently ex-
pected by the Executive Board. 1t is thought
fhat alsl L I 1.l.
tutions Of like character in other branches of
farming IN Vermont have received and are
receiving from the State, our own resources
from memberships, registration fees, and
sales OF volumes of the register when pub
hshed, VIII not only preclude all probability
OF need ior an assessment upon the members
of the Association, but will leave good bal
ance in the treasury.
The report of the committee on pediprees
will show the result of their labors and, so
far as they have been able to come TO con
clusions, the focks they have admitted to be
recorded Enough have already been ad-
mitted to make very respectable register,
and with others that have already applied,
and still others that are preparing TO apply,
will make volume of goodly size and one
worthy Of the focks and breeders of Yer
mont.
It is believed that more harmony and less
jealousy exists among the sheep breeders of
Vermont to-day than ever before, and this
desirable state of affairs is in no small de-
gree due to the existence and successful
promise of usefulness of the Vermont Merino
Sheep Breeders Association. 1t should be
the aim of its ambition to perpetuate this
harmony, and to do its work so thoroughly
as to deserve the credit Of being standard
of authority, and assure those from beyond
the borders of Vermont that her hock-mas
tiers are not only able to furnish sheep CT
superior apparent merit, but to entltle them
to rely upon their receiving the substantial
benefits they expect from the infusion of the
blood endorsed by the Association,