IMPORTATIONS OP SPANISH SHEEP. 23 



that close individual attention to his sheep which is necessary 

 to marked success in breeding. But his statements show that 

 he improved them considerably. 



The following table in respect to his sheep in 1810, 1 take 

 from a manuscript letter of his, not before published. As the 

 weights given both of carcasses and fleeces considerably 

 exceed those of the previous year (published in his Essay on 

 Sheep, p. 186,) it is probable that the sheep had been highly 

 kept. The wool was unwashed. 



Stock rams. Weight. Weight of fleece. 



One, 6 years old. 146 Ibs. 91bs imported from Rambouille. 



" 2 years old, 146 Ibs. 9 Ibs raised here. 



" 1 year old, 145 Ibs. 11 Ibs. 11 oz. raised here. 



Ewes. Average weight of fleece. 



Common (268) 3 Ibs. 10 oz. 



Half-breed, or first cross, 5 Ibs. 1 oz. . 



Three-fourths, or second cross, 6 Ibs, 3 oz., heaviest fleece, 8 Ibs. 



Seven-eighths, or third cross, 6 Ibs. 6 oz. do. 8 Iba. 4 oz. 



Full-blood,.... 5 Ibs. 13 oz. do. 8 Ibs. 12 oz. 



His half-blood wool sold for 75 cents ; three-fourths for 

 $1.25; seven-eighths for $1.50; full-blood for $2.00. He sold 

 four full-blood ram lambs for $4,000 ; fourteen fifteen-sixteenths 

 blood do. for $3,500; twenty seven-eighths blood do. for $2,000; 

 thirty three-fourths blood do. for $900. He says if the lambs 

 had been a year old they would have sold 50 per cent, higher.* 



Later in the year 1802 Col. Humphreys, the Americas 

 Minister in Spain, brought home with him 21 rams and 70 

 ewes bought for him in that country. I find no definite early 

 statistics of the flock, though in manuscript letters of Col. H. 

 seen by me, he states that they constantly improved in 

 weight of fleece and in carcass. He mentions as worthy of 

 note that a ram raised on his farm yielded 7 Ibs. 5 oz. of 

 washed wool. The reputation of his flock, handed down by 

 tradition, is an excellent one. Various facts which I cannot 

 occupy space to give in detail, have led me to the undoubting 

 conclusion that it was entirely from the Infantado cabana or 

 family, and that it was selected from the best sheep of that 

 family. 



A gentleman of Philadelphia imported two pair of black 

 Merinos in 1803, and Mr. Muller, a small number from Hesse 

 Cassel, in 1807.f In 1809, and 1810 Mr. Jarvis, American 



* This letter will appear entire in the Transactions of the New York State 

 Agricultural Society for 1862. 



t These crossed with Col. Humphreys' sheep, in the flock of Mr. Wm. Caldwell of 

 Philadelphia, were the origin of the formerly highly celebrated flocks of Wells & 

 Dickinson, of Ohio. 



