778 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



type that a eountry may need or fashion or tasle of man dictate, 

 and this is a great quality to possess. Their fleeces enter into 

 fabrics for which there is no known substitute among textile fibers. 

 Their sociability or love for companionship induced them to Hock 

 together. In length of days and years of usefulness they are the 

 antediluvians among sheep. Were Noah's two rams an Infantado 

 and Paular respectively? Tradition has it that these sheep trace 

 from Spain through Italy and Tarentine into Asia Minor. Were 

 Job's 14,000 sheep Merinos? The record makes no mention of their 

 lack of herding quality. Merinos are the only kind that herds well. 

 What other breed after being led into green pastures and by the 

 side of still waters would lie down in serene repose beneath the 

 shade of a cedar of Lebanon and inspire a man to write that im- 

 mortal twenty-third l'salm. ."The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall 

 not want?" 



I have known a lot of Merino breeders who were good whole- 

 souled men to be trusted with gold uncounted. The shepherds on 

 Judea's plain were deemed the fittest among men to witness the ris- 

 ing of the day-star of hope and hear the heavenly benediction "Peace 

 on earth, good will to men." But why speculate? We know that 

 they are the oldest breed of domestic animals and this is glory 

 enough for you and me, my brother. 



The richest legacy that has come down to us from the ancient 

 Roman Empire is Merino sheep. Well did the haughty and proud 

 Spaniard know the value of these sheep and what it meant to a 

 nation to monopolize the breed and the fabrics made from their 

 lieeces. Then were they the sought after by kings, the envied by 

 princes. To be clad in Merino fabrics was a prouder distinction 

 than to wear purple and fine linen. The Spanish nation w r as not 

 true to herself or loyal to her brother man. Over against her record 

 as a nation were written the words "Mene, meue, tekel upharsin." 

 Her rule and sway was broken and her greatest good divided with 

 others. 



If deeds are measured by results, and institutions by the amount 

 of human good, comfort.and material well-being which they promote, 

 then the bringing of the Spanish Merino to our shores by Hum- 

 phreys, Jarvis, Crowninshield and others should place their names 

 high on the scroll of fame as public benefactors. And scarcely 

 less should we esteem the men like Jarvis, Atwood, Blakeslee, the 

 Nettletons, Rich, Eeedle, the Quakers of Lebanon, N. H., and Bailey 

 and Potter of Rhode Island, who preserved the Spanish blood pure 

 from imputation all through the vicissitudes which intervened from 

 the beginning of the last century down to the decade of 1840-50, 

 when they engaged the attention of master breeders like Hammead, 

 Sanford, Robinson, Stickney, Elitharp and a few others who began 

 the improvement carried on by their successors which has given to 

 the world the marvelous American Merino, the greatest wool-pro- 

 ducing animal the world has ever seen or will see, and established 

 a blood line that can improve all other breeds in quality and amount 

 in the land of Merino extraction whose blood of fleece. Possibly 

 there may be a few flocks has not been mingled with this strain, 

 but they are unknown to the speaker. The successful breeder em- 

 ploys methods and applies principles that may well be imitated by 



