THE AMERICAN MERINO. 93 



and risk," to bring with him from Cadiz, two ewes and one ram. 

 Unfortunately his enterprise came to naught, for presenting these 

 valuable and costly sheep to a friend, this friend made them into 

 mutton and ate them. This same friend afterwards paid $1,000 

 for a Merino ram. One ram was imported in 1801, and was used 

 on the farm of a French gentleman, Mr. Delessert, near Kingston, 

 N. Y. This animal weighed 138 Ibs., and his fleece, well washed 

 in cold water, weighed 8 Ibs. 8 ozs. He was a very fine ram, and 

 finally founded a valuable flock on the farm of E. J. Dupont, near 

 Wilmington, Del. Later hi the same year, Mr. Seth Adams, of 

 Zanesville, Ohio, imported a pair of Spanish Merinos, which re- 

 ceived a premium at the fair of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Society the next year. In 1802 Mr. Livingston, the American 

 Minister to France, sent two pairs of French Merinos home to his 

 farm on the Hudson Kiver. In 1807, Mr. Livingston imported 

 some choice Spanish ewes from France, and in 1808, his flock be- 

 gan to acquire a wide reputation, his rams selling for $150 each, 

 and half-blood ewes and rams for $12 each. In 1802, Colonel 

 Humphreys, the American Minister to Spain, sent 25 rams and 75 

 ewes, selected from the choicest flocks in Spain, to Derby, Con- 

 necticut. From what particular family of Merinos these sheep were 

 selected, does not appear, the evidence, however, seems to point to 

 the fact that they were Infantados, or sheep from tlie flock of the 

 Duke of Infantado, one of the chief grandees of Spain at that 

 period. This flock was bred and improved by Col. Humphreys, 

 with much success. At the death of this gentleman, in 1818, his 

 flock was scattered, and only two or three then obscure farmers had 

 the luck, or precaution, to preserve them pure and distinct. On 

 the rise of the Merinos into their future high reputation, these for- 

 tunate persons were brought into notice as the possessors of flocks 

 of pure Merino sheep. But the most extensive and noteworthy 

 importation, and that which gave form and character to the 

 American Merinos, was that of the Hon. Wm. Jarvis, the Ameri- 

 can Consul at Lisbon, in 1809 and 1810. This consisted of 3,850 

 sheep of the flocks of Paulars, Negrettis, Aqueirres, and Montarcos 

 of Spain. These flocks, consisting of nearly 50,000 head, had 

 been, for political reasons, confiscated and sold by the Spanish 

 government, with other property of the four grandees who had 

 owned them. 



Of the imported sheep, 1,500 came to New York, 1,000 to Bos- 

 ton, and the remainder to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Alexandria, 

 Norfolk, Richmond, Portland, Wiscasset, and Portsmouth. An- 

 other shipment of 2,500 followed in 1810, and were distributed 



