EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



69 



lamb tliat ho was not ashamed to show. He exhibited one that weighed 

 on foot 1^9 pounds and produced a fleece of 9 pounds (5 ounces of washed 

 wool. On May 21, 1810, the second annual meeting was held, when live 

 lambs were shown. 



The fleeces from these lambs were weighed in the dirt. They were, 

 however, unusually clean. Mr. Ridgeway's and Dr. Mackay's were 

 about quarter-blooded Barbary. Mr. Meade's and Mr. Kelson's were 

 from Mr. Custis's Bakewell. Three months after this Mr. Eidgeway 

 weighed two of his lambs, twins, at five months old. One weighed 115 

 pounds, and the other 116 pounds. There were descendants of his prize 

 ram, weighing 180 pounds. The wool of the Barbary sheep of Fred- 

 erick County was vastly superior in point of quality to the native wool. 



At the exhibition on May 28, 1811, the sheep showed an improve- 

 ment. The weight of the sheep on the hoof and that of their fleeces 

 are again given: 



: "On washed. 



t Washed. 



D. Ridgeway was awarded the first premium of $30 for his 185-pound 

 lamb for size, form, quantity and quality of wool, and Mr. Meade was 

 awarded a premium of $30 for the " greatest average quantity of wool 

 hhorn from the whole of his flock, consisting of 50 head at least." Mr. 

 M-ade had 91 head of sheep, and they averaged 5 pounds 3 ounces of 

 washed wool. 



In 1828, Mr. Meade published a statement in a Winchester, Va., 

 paper, from which we learn that his flock was built upon the remnants 

 of an English breed imported before the Revolution (and highly cele- 

 brated for mutton qualities), crossed by the Arlington long-wooled, im- 

 proved by Mr. Custis from the Persian stock of Mount Vernon. When 

 he began the improvement he had 124 sheep, averaging 8J pounds of 

 wool too long for ordinary purposes. The flock was next crossed by 

 the large French and small Spanish Merino, until, during the fine-wool 



