Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-10-18
Sheep Interest.
THE PRIZES ON WOOL At PARIS.

Secretary Albert Chapman of the Yer
mont Merino Sheep-Breeders' association
writes as follows to the Country Gentle
man:
have read with great deal of inter-
est an article in your paper of Sept. IL,
entitled "Sheep and Wool in the Ohio
Valley" was very sorry to read that
'the present outlook for wool-growing
in the Ohio valley is not the brightest"
while elsewhere in our country, includ-
ing Vermont the home of the American
Merino. or at least where that breed has
reached so high grade of Improvement,
the outlook is certainly Frightening. 1t
is possible that the plain, long but light
fleeced sheep, which your correspondent
represents has displaced the American
Merino of % years ago, is not as profit
able after all as those which shear much
heavier fleece of wool, that possibly does
not bring quite as much per pound, but
the aggregate value of which is much
more than the long, thin, light one grown
on larger sheep. 1t would be interest
ing as well as instructive to know just
how much these rams that "shear from
II to Is pounds of white wool of good
length and appearance" yield of cleansed
wool, and Just how much live weight the
grower has to support to produce his
feec-s. Have there been any public
shearings of the sheep described, or any
securing tests made by reliable officials
to prove Just what the shrinkage of the
fleeces is? The wrinkly Merino so much
derid.d by 81. G. l." from Updegraff,
Ohio, has publicly shown his ability to
grow, not only heavy fleece, but large
amount and large per cent to carcass OF
cleansed wool of good quality that has
always been salable in our markets, al
though it has not always brought the
highest price. 1t would be interesting to
have your correspondent show how the
greasy wrinkly rams destroyed the value
of the feeces in his section taking into
account the increase in weight of fleece
they added.
There have no doubt been a great
MANY mistakes made in selecting rams
that were remarkable for grease and
wrinkles only, but the present great den
sity of fleece, amount of wool, and
strength of fibre of the Vermont sheep
could not have been attained without
them. and never has been attained by
any breeder who discarded them.
When your subscriber speaks of the
downfall of the American Merino, we
fail to understand just what that down.
fall is. Not less than twelve carloads of
these rams have gone to the West and
Texas from one station in our county
within a few weeks. 1t is true that sheep
are wanted that have other excellencies
than wrinkles and grease, but there is
also demand for sheep that have COM
pactness of fleece to a sufficient standard
to improve the weight of fleece in the
sections to which they are taken. This
the long, thin, light-heeced rams have
never been able to do, and sooner or later
wool growers everywhere will find it
more profitable to raise wool from sheep
producing twenty per cent of wool than
from those producing only eight or ten
per cent, and entirely practicable to raise
that per cent of wool from race OF
sheep that will furnish a very high quail
itv of mutton, that will feed we'll, and
reach 100 pounds or more at maturity,
which stage will be reached at an early
age if the feed is as liberal as is neces-
sary to grow any kind of stock with pro-
fit.
j. G.I. says ''our woods have stood
tests in the great expositions of the
world. We do not know the results at
the present Paris Exposition, but at the
last one held in that city, the prize was
awarded to Mr.. Wood of Jefferson coun-
ty, o." have italcised the to call atten-
ton to the idea conveyed that Mr.. Wood
received the highest prize, or the only
prize on wool at that exposition, which il
seems to me he is hardly justified in
claiming. The State department al
Washington sent me the following list
of awards made at the exposition on fine
or Merino woods:
oOlsD - Oo'hPpN 'Sot'
Minister West. VT: l.. p. Clark. AID
Olson, VT; f. Townsend, Pavilion
Centre, n. Y.
SILVER MEDALs-O. & f. S. Hall, Eas
Randolph, VT; Samuel Archer, Kan
sas City, Mo-; E. j. Hiatt, Chester
Hills, O.
BRONZE MEDALs-F. & L. f. Moore
Shoreham, VT; ii. c. Burwell, Bird
port, VT; III. Nj. Bottum, Shafts
bury, VT; Henry Harrington, Kee
ler's Bay, Vt; j. T. Stickney. Shore
ham, VT; c. b. Russell, North Hero
VT; Milo j. Ellsworth, Cornwall
VT; w. G.. Markham, Avon, New
York.
HONORABLE MENTIoN-C. p. Morrison
Addison, VT; Il. Stickney & Son
East Shoreham, VT; G. F. Martin
Rush, n. Y; Bronson & Mariner
West Bloomfield, n. Y.
One of the gold medals was won on