128 CROSSING FAMILIES OF MERINOS. 



where they could find animals which presented desirable 

 qualities, and mixed these families indiscriminately together. 

 To this cause, in a very considerable measure, is to be 

 attributed the remarkably unhomogeneous character of the 

 French flocks. Breeding back, in the hands of persons 

 entertaining different views, has separated them into almost 

 as many families as they started from ; and the new families 

 lack within themselves the uniformity and permanent hered- 

 itary character of the original ones. Mr. Jarvis, in the 

 United States, crossed several families all prime Leonese, 

 and not widely variant in character. The cross was guided 

 by a single intelligent will, and always toward a definite 

 and consistent end. Therefore a much greater degree of 

 uniformity was obtained. 



The present highly popular Paular family in Vermont is, 

 as has been already seen, dashed with Infantado and mixed 

 Leonese (Jarvis) strains of blood.* Crosses between the 

 present Paulars and Infantados are now common throughout 

 Vermont, and the produce is held in high estimation. The 

 Paular ewe in such cases is usually bred to the Infantado 

 ram. It should be borne in mind that the widest of these 

 crosses do not go beyond six original cabanas of prime 

 Leonese sheep, among the best and most uniform of Spain. 



The cross began in Germany by Ferdinand Fischer, 



* I gave an account of the origin of this cross in my Report on Fine- Wool 

 Husbandry, 1862, from the information of those who ought to have known the facts; 

 bnt on fuller investigation it proves to have been erroneous in some particulars. The 

 Rich (Paular) and Jarvis (mixed Leonese) sheep had been crossed somewhat anterior 

 to 1844. Judge M. W. C. Wright, of Shoreham, Vermont, having conceived the idea of 

 crossing the produce with the Infantado or Atwood family, purchased a ram for that 

 purpose of Mr. Atwood at the New York State Fair in the fall of the last named year. 

 Judge Wright sold the ram, immediately after his return to Vermont, to Prosper 

 Elithorp, of Bridport, and Loyal C. Remelee, of Shoreham, but used him himself 

 more or less for three years. This, the "Atwood ram," got the " Elithorp ram" out 

 of a ewe bred by Mr. Remelee, and sold by him to Mr. Elithorp. The dam of the 

 Elithorp ram was got by Judge Wright's "Black Hawk" out of a pure Jarvis ewe, 

 purchased by Mr. Remelee of Mr, Jarvis. Black Hawk was got by " Fortune," out of 

 a pure Jarvis ewe purchased by Judge Wright of Mr. Jarvis. Fortune was bred by 

 Tyler Stickney, and got by " Consul " out of a pure Paular (Rich) ewe. Consul was 

 a pure Jarvis ram, purchased by Mr. Stickney of Mr. Jarvis. Mr. Elithorp sold the 

 Elithorp ram, then a lamb, in the fall of 1845. to Erastus Robinson, of Shoreham. 

 The Elithorp ram got the " Old Robinson ram " out of a ewe bred by Mr. Elithorp, 

 and sold by him, with twenty-nine others, to Mr. Robinson in 1843. The dam of the 

 Old Robinson ram was got by the Atwood ram, above mentioned, out of a pure 

 Paular (Rich) ewe bred by Mr. Robinson, and sold by him to Mr. Elithorp in 1843. 

 The Atwood, Elithorp and Old Robinson rams, and particularly the last named, were 

 the founders of the crossed family. The Old Robinson ram in the hands of Mr. 

 Robinson and his brother-in-law, Mr. Stickney, (who subsequently purchased him of 

 the former,) begot an immense number of lambs, which were very strongly marked 

 with his own characteristics, and which, in turn, generally transmitted "them with 

 great force to their posterity. They were generally smallish, short, exceedingly 

 round and compact, with fine, yolky, and for those times and for the size of the sheep. 

 heavy fleeces. Messrs. Robinson and Stickney spread rams of this family far and 

 Wide. See APPENDIX B. 



