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Show GOOD MUTTON TYPE OF SHEEP Tendency of Public to Consume More of Meat Attributed to Careful Dressing of Carcasses. In his work on profitable stock feeding. feed-ing. Prof. II. It Smith calls attention to the growing tendency on the part of the public to consume more mutton. mut-ton. He attributes this In part to the fact that mutton carcasses are mora carefuily dressed and better ripened than formerly and In addition a better trade of mutton sheep Is being produced. pro-duced. Furthermore It Is marketed earlier than whs the case a few- years igo. IHirlng former years whin wool was higher In price, the country was .largely stocked with flue-woled sheep )f the distinctly wool breeds. These sheep were retained on the farms perhaps per-haps several years for the annual clip of wool, and when finally placed upon the market had become so aged as to mako the meat tough, as well as (strongly flavored. With lower prlcert of wool, there have come alsiut marked changes In the character of flocks. Rama of the mutton breeds, Including the Shropshire, Southdown, Hampshire, Hamp-shire, Cots wold, Oxford, Lincoln and Leicester, have been crossed UKm native na-tive flne-woolcd ewes, r suiting In good quality of mutton stock. These cross bred mutton sheep do not produce pro-duce ho heavy a fleece as do the Merino, Mer-ino, and at prevailing prices for wool It Is not profitable to carry them over for their second clip and the little Increase In-crease In weight; but their points of excellence for mutton production are bo much greater than their deficiencies deficien-cies for wool production in comparison compari-son with the Merino, that they are now In greater favor. Merino ewes nf the Improved strains are still preferred pre-ferred for range conditions, because they not only sheer a heavier fleoro, hut their deioie, fine wool and smaller frames make them better able to withstand the hardships of the range. With the more recent advance In the price of wool, there Is now a tendency upon tho part of farmers to retain In I the breeding ewes soimw lint more of j the Merino blood, depending upon the I heavy mutton rains to produce a type .of lamb which has proved very satisfactory satis-factory In the feed lot, though somewhat some-what smalli r than higher grades of mutton stock. |