Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1881-05-28

OHStIhtIUu ina sheep TdiScu On the
Atlantic slope are freer from di-
seases and produce greater length
of staple and stronger wool than
any other known in the sheep.
raising category. Besides the
adaptability of our soil to the nat
ural and spontaneous growth OF
blue grass, and indeed almost all
the grasses known on this CONT
nent, is another powerful advant-
age that the people of our section
have to engage in a business so
profitable TO them and so delight
fIl in its nature as the rearing and
propagation ofsheep and wool, and
at the same time so useful among
men.
Ia speaking of the many adj
vantages which our own country
has over others of less favored soil
and climate, we have it from un-
doubted authority that sheep
which are brought here from such
countries have increased in value
and in point of wool and size at
least one hundred per centum over
the same kind of sheep in their
own native country, owing to our
genial climate aud strong grasses.
We will take for instance the
Spanish Merino which to-day are
more numerous in the United
States than any other class of
sheep known here. In spain we
find him dwarfsh, but celebrated
for his adaptability and capabiity
to endure tropical sun, and place
him in the hands Of New Eng
land farmer, we soon find him
TO increase in size, his race to in
crease in wool and other advant-
ages to his owner. 1t is just 50
with very many of other stocks
brought here from other climes
and other countries, at oucs prov
ing entirely the advantages which
our country possesses over that of
others in the propagation Of sheep
and sheep husbandry.
In speaking again of our own
immediate section, Logan Osburn,
Esq, of Jefferson county, West
Virginia, says that he has fire.
quently bought bucks (Merino)
and ewes from eastern Ohio and
western Pennsylvania and in al
most every instance they were eff
fected with foot rot, disease
highly contagious and detrimental
to sheep, and he says, in very
short time, he has, with proper
remedies, cured 1t and never has
known it to recur in the same
sheep The same gentleman
further says that he has never
known a case of foot rot to origin
ate here, and when brought here
from other places he has found it
to be easily cured. His veracity
is undoubted and his experience
great in sheep raising, as he has
for many years been engaged in
it, being one of the largest and
most successful sheep raisers in
the State of West Virginia.
The prospective advantages TO
the sheep raiser are, according to
our idea, very many, a few of
which we will further enumerate:
The interest felt in sheep hus-
bandry has very much added to
the size of sheep and increase of
quality of wool. Years ago the
finer species were not bred and
raised in the United States. In
the year 1774 we have the first
evidence that the Saxony Merino
was introduced in this country,
and for many years took the lead
in the fine wool species, but more
recently the Spanish NJ erino have
takeh their place. and are now re-
garded by our people as the lead
ing wool sheep. Their capability
to endure short living, strength of
constitution, and quantity and
quality of wool combine to give
them precedence in point of profit
to the farmer over all other species
of sheep yet introduced into the
United States. This fact is dem
onstrated by the fact that the very
best sheep men ia the Union raise
and keep no other kind OF sheep,
regarding them as being more
easily and safely herded together
in large numbers-the profits on
feed, pasturage, and investments,
the experimental and practical
sheep raiser, raising and keeping
them, and that too successfully,
we regard as the best evidence Of
their being the most profitable to
their owner. Like all other busi-
ness, sheep breeding and sheep
raising requires experience and
practice, and hence one of the OBJ
jections to our Spanish Merino
sheep. One of the greatest mis-
takes our farmers make in hand
I ling the Spanish Merino is the
early lambing system, which is
impossible in that breed, as they