Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-03-14

Forty years ago Vermont exceeded any 9th
er state in the number and size Of the hocks
within an equal area. OF late years, however,
the sheep of this state have decreased to less
than one.third of their former number In
1910 there were 1,Gs1, 900 sheep in Vermont
by the last census there were only 4lO, 600
But there is some compensation for this loss
in the fact that the wool product of the state
has not diminished nearly in proportion to
the number of sheep. In 1910 the state pro
duced 3, 700, 600 pounds of wool-a trhe less
than . pounds to a sheep. In 1880 the wool
product was 2,551 600 pounds-an average of
nearly II pounds to each sheep. Part of this
apparent increase in the average weight OF
fleece may be owing to the fact that the Gus
tom of washing sheep is at this time but little
practiced.
The writer of an article in the Century
magazine, abiding to the time when the
hocks of Vermont were most numerous, says:
"Wool- growing became the leading industry
of the state. Almost every farmer was q
shepherd, and had his half-hundred or hun
dreds or thousands of grade sheep or full
bloods dotting the ferny pastures of the hill
country or the broad levels of the Champlain
valley, rank with English grasses, From old
Fort Dummer to Canada line one could hard
ly get beyond the sound of the sleeps bleat
unless he took to the great woods, and even
there he was likely enough to hear the inter
mittent jingle Of the sheep-bell Ginning with
the songs of the hermit and wood thrushes, or
TO meet flock driven Gathering over the peb-
bles of a mountain road for a wildwood set
tier had his little herd of sheep, to which he
gave in summer the freedom of the woods,
and which took-Rlas for the owners crops -
the freedom of the meadow and grain patches
Vermont, become so famous as a
wool-produoing state that English cutters
stamped their best shears True Vermonters
presently became more famous as the nursery
of improvement of the Merino breed to
which object several intelligent breeders de
voted their efforts. By selection of TIE best
obtainable, the form of the sheep was made
more robust, the size increased, and with it
the length and thickness of all parts of the
fleece, so that wool on the sleeps belly was
nearly as long as that on the sides" Refer
ring to time when the Merino fell into dis
favor and ep.farming in New England be-
came comparatively improbable, so that
most shepherds turned deirymen, Mr.. Robin
son says; but, gifted with wise foresight
few owners of fine hocks kept them, and
bred them as carefully as ever, and in the
fullness of time were richly rewarded. After
n while it became evident that the focks of
the West could only be kept up to the desired
standard by frequent infusions of the Eastern
blood and so it has come about that sheep
breeding in Vermont is q greater, stronger
founded industry than ever before. Each
year more and more buyers come from Texas,
California, Colorado and Australia and on
many an unpretending Vermont farm, after
examination of points and pedigree often
more carefully kept than their owners, the
rn-coroneted dons of the fold change mas
tiers at prices rivaling those of blood horses
The successful sheep breeder is
up to his knees in clover, but the Eastern
wool-grower is on barren ground" Some
one from the heart of the Vermont sheep.
breeding region informs the writer that 'or-
binary rams sell from $40 to 1925 head or
binary ewes for $50. The highest real price
any one has known a ram to sell for within
two years is S11OO ewes $500" We believe
higher prices have been reported, perhaps
since this article in the Century was written F.;
but it is more than possible that the real price
and the reported price may not be in all cases
the same.