EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 89 



N. J. He bred from Leicester rains hired of Capt. Farmer at $200 

 the season for three years preceding 1809. When he died, and his 

 flock was sold at auction in October of that year, many persons attended 

 the sale from Pennsylvania,* Delaware, and New Jersey. Ninety-eight 

 sheep, crosses between Leicester rams and native ewes, were sold for 

 $927.05, the highest-priced ewe going for $20.30. 



A ram and some ewes were shown at the Pennsylvania Cattle Show 

 in April, 1810, and in June the same year B. B. Cooper, of Gloucester 

 County, New Jersey, showed a yearling ram, a cross between one of 

 Farmer's rams and a Helder ewe, which weighed 144 pounds carcass 

 135 pounds, 5 ounces; fleece 8 pounds, 11 ounces. In December, 1810, 

 there was a public sale at Bushkill, near Philadelphia, of 80 sheep, full 

 blood, seven-eighths, three-fourths, one-half blood Merino rams and 

 ewes, and several ewes of the Bakewell or Dishley breed, and a very 

 fine seven eighths Bakewell ram. 



The New Leicester lost none of its good qualities in the hands of 

 Capt. Farmer, and those who purchased from him or used his rams saw 

 in the descendants sheep that fattened with great ease and produced 

 wool much esteemed for combing and the manufacture of worsted, while 

 the American or native breed were difficult to fatten and produced a 

 wool greatly inferior, not only as to quality, but in quantity. Lambs 

 at three months old sold for $4 to $5, while those of native breed rarely 

 commanded half that sum, more commonly about a third. 



The increasing interest in sheep, both as mutton and wool producers, 

 caused a greater attention to their care and in the selection of animals 

 to breed from, and as Capt. Farmer had the only pure flock of Leicesters 

 in the United States the demand upon him from the neighboring States, 

 and from the progressive agriculturists of his own State, was very large. 

 For some years his farm was the center from which these improved 

 sheep found their way into many parts of the United States, and tradi- 

 tion reaches us that in every respect they equaled their English ances- 

 tors in all their good qualities. Tradition also informs us that both 

 Capt. Farmer and his neighbor, Miles Smith, were large purchasers of 

 the Merino, and that at the time of the former's death, in 1818, both the 

 Merino and the Leicester, as a full-blood sheep, ceased to graze upon 

 their farms. How far tradition is to be relied upon we can not say, 

 but as to Mr. Smith we do know that, in April, 1811, he imported 

 seventy Merino sheep from Lisbon, which were taken to his farm on the 

 Baritan. 



TEXEL SHEEP. 



North of the Cape of Good Hope, in the rich and sickly countries of 

 the negroes of the western coast of Africa, the sheep are in great num- 

 bers, and of character as distinct from those of Asia and Europe as 

 other quadrupeds of the same countries. There are two very marked 

 varieties. One is of small size, not more than half the size of the or- 



