52 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



on a better selection, but to no purpose. A quarrel 

 ensued between us, and Kretchman even went so far 

 as to engage another to take charge of the sheep on 

 their passage. My friends interposing, I was finally 

 induced to take charge of them. The number shipped 

 was 167, fifteen of which perished on the passage. 

 They were sold at Brighton, some of them going as 

 high as $400 to $450. A portion of this importation 

 consisted of grade sheep, which sold as high as the 

 pure floods, for the American purchasers could not 

 know the difference. It may be readily imagined 

 what an inducement the Brighton sale held out to 

 speculation, both in this country and Saxony. The 

 German newspapers teemed with advertisements of 

 sheep for sale, headed ' Good for the American mar- 

 ket ;' and these sheep, in many instances, were actually 

 bought up for the American market at five, eight, or 

 ten dollars a head, when the pure bloods could not 

 be purchased at from less than thirty to forty dol- 

 lars. In 1836, Messrs. Searle imported three cargoes, 

 amounting in the aggregate to 513 sheep. They were 

 about of the same character with their prior importa- 

 tions ;. in the main good, but mixed with some grade 

 sheep. On the same year a cargo of 221 arrived, on 

 German account, Emil Bach, of Leipsic, supercargo. 

 A few were good sheep and of pure blood ; but taken 

 as a lot they were miserable. The owners sunk about 

 $3,000. Next came a cargo of 210, on German ac- 

 count, Wasmuss and Multer owners. The whole cost 

 of these was about $1,125 in Germany. With the 

 exception of a small number, procured to make a 

 nourish on in their advertisements of sale, they were 

 sheep having no pretensions to purity of blood. In 

 1827, the same individuals brought out another cargo. 

 These were selected exclusively from grade flocks of a 

 low character. On the same year the Messrs. Searle 

 made their last importation, consisting of 182 sheep. 

 Of these I know little. My friends in Germany wrote 



