The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-16

SMCCp AOE AHC oOoahs
A reader asks which is the best
breed of sheep for the South. says
Henry Stewart in Practical Farmer.
He wants sheep that will give an early
lamb in the spring and a good fleece.
He will find most of the information
desired in the Practical Farmer of
Aug. 10. Something more as to this
special point will doubtless be of gem
eral interest, as it will apply, with
very little change, due to climate, to
all other parts of the United States.
AS to the best breed there is really no
such difference in sheep, except so
far as the flock may be desired for
special purposes. For instance, for
the early lambs which are fit to mar
ket at Christmas. there is but one
breed available, this being the Dorset,
and it must be of pure bred ewes as
we'll as rams. to become available for
this use This breed is a native of
the southern part of England, where
the climate Is much the same as that
of North Carolina, and there the sheep
may be pastured the whole winter or
feed on root crops, or rape, grown es
pecially for the purpose. Thus the
lambs suffer no inconvenience from
cold, and the ewes get precisely the
The Dorset ram, however, crossed on
the Shropshire eve, gets a still bet
ter market lamb. as the lamb is larger
on account of the greater size of the
eve. and it has her black or darkened
face. This still, in the Eastern mar
kets, is desirable and popular. so that
the butchers will buy such lambs in
preference to the white faced ones,
although 1t will not go any way to
~ IA rrx1.o
early lambs are reared in this way
in the North, by artificial heat, in close
barns: of course this adds to the
cost of the lamb, and this gives the
lamb breeder in the South a great
advantage over all Northern competi-
tors. The lambs I have reared for
early markets have been a cross Of
this kind. or of the same ram, the
Shropshire. which, by the way. 1 can
freely say from over thirty years ex-
| perience, IN which / have tested all
the pure breeds. is my preference on
account of its hardness, strong
constitution, good feeding quail
tiles, salable fleece. for quail
ity. for all the South. excepting in
the mountain district, where the
Cheviot-a mountain breed-stands the
colder winters best. This sheep, the
Cheviot, is the handsomest hardest
and most attractive of all the breeds to
me. 1t was so at the great Live Stock
Exposition at Chicago, last year, which
L attended, being there as one of the
judges, and 1 noticed the visitors
crowded around the Cheviots' pens with
| constant EXPLANATIONS: 'Oh, what
lovely sheep; what pretty faces and
beautiful wool" And all this is GER
tainly justified. Of the sheep i'm
ported here nearly twenty years ago,
the ram was freely and gratuitously
used by my neighbors, so that the I'M
fortunate loss of this fine animal, which
weighed over 300 pounds. was not to-
tai one. The marks of this fine ram
are still conspicuous all over this coun-
| ty. If any special breed of sheep shall
ever become popular in this at present
neglected but admirable locality, it will
| be this Cheviot. It's wool is soft. fine
strong, pure white. and is the raw ma
| terial for the fine Scotch 1annels and
tweeds used for clothing. So that for
| our Southern home made goods, which
our industrious women still manufac-
ture in their homes. this wool would be
exactly suited, as 1t is for our Southern
homespun cloths for men sclothing.
which is dyed by our butternut hulls,
the color of which has been adopted by
foreign armies and goes by the name
of khaki. But the Cotswold is an ex-
cellent sheep for this whole territory
and If profit alone were my sole OBJ
| Ject | should keep the. Cotswold rams
and Merino ewes. And. if the earliest
lambs were desired l would keep the
Dorsets., BY breeding pure for three
years the flock may then be kept with
in itself, and by careful selection of
the best for breeding every year-that
Is, the progeny of the earliest ewes
and the best of the rams so bred. there
would be no practical difference be-
tween the pure sheep and these, -fif-
teen-sixteenths pure sheep. BY the use
of another round of a pure ram the
produce would have the requisite six
crosses of pure blood. and so entitled
to the distinction of being full-bred.
As to the desirability of bringing sheep
from a distance into Southern local
ity, there is no question except as TO
the cost of it. Plenty of common
sheep may be procured in West Vir-
ginia from whence purchasers have
come to buy up all the spare sheep in
this mountain country. The stock of
spare sheep is, however. so low Just
now all through the Southern states.
that West Virginia and Southern Ohio
and Pennsylvania are the nearest
sources of supply. But 1t is a small
expense to buy sheep i'm these localities
and drive them home, after a home
has been secured; taking ample time
through the comon roads, feeding along
the roadsides, with next to no cost at
all to the owner.
anvW