EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 135 



France and some shepherd <lo^s from Spain. Merino sheep had become 

 plentiful in the vicinity of New Castle, Del., in 1809, and twenty-eight 

 uvnt lemon were named who, on account of these sheep, forbade hunting 

 on their grounds with dogs and guns. These sheep were not all full- 

 blood Merinos, nor were they all descendants of Bon Pedro; some were 

 descendants of the importations of Chancellor Livingston and Col. Bavid 

 Humphreys. 



In 1S09-'10, E. I. Bupont & Co. erected woolen mills on the Brandy- 

 wine, and in their manufacture used the wool of the neighborhood. A 

 newspaper of the day remarked that the introduction of Merinos prom- 

 ised to remove any objection to the scarcity of fine wool, and another 

 that " in the neighborhood of Wilmington patriotism and public spirit 

 is unparalleled in raising and procuring Merino sheep." In 1812 the 

 flock of Bupont & Co. was, perhaps, the largest and best in America. 

 One gentleman, near Wilmington, not connected with the factory, had, 

 in 1810, 400 sheep, direct descendants of Bon Pedro, and in 1812 the 

 number of the Merinos had increased to such a degree that an en- 

 thusiastic writer declared that the adjacent country was full of sheep 

 and wool, one of the staples of the farmer; that ten years more and the 

 country could send broadcloth to England, should the Government 

 permit it, or at least supply that country with Merino wool, "having 

 enough for ourselves and to spare, for the sheep improve with us and 

 the stock is increasing with unheard-of rapidity." In 1814 there were 

 in the hands of twenty-one farmers in the immediate vicinity of 

 Wilmington 4,300 sheep, of which 746 were full-blooded Merinos, 2,317 

 mixed blood, and 1,239 common sheep of the country, of superior kind. 

 The Merino and mixed bloods were descendants of Bon Pedro princi- 

 pally. The descendants of Bon Pedro were not confined to Belaware, 

 but extended as far south, at least, as Maryland and Virginia, and 

 north into Pennsylvania, in addition to the blood he left in New York. 

 Joseph Bougherty, near Alexandria, Ya., bred them, and in 1810 offered 

 for sale " several three-eighths-blooded Merino rams of Mr. Bupontfs 

 stock, yeaned in February," and at the same time would "let for the 

 season a three-fourth-blood, weight on hoof 115 pounds, his fleece 6 

 pounds 12 ounces." On September 5, two rams and a ewe of this stock 

 were sold at auction at Philadelphia, and on November 27 following 

 Edward Lloyd was inaugurated governor of Maryland dressed in a 

 full suit of homespun, fine green cloth, manufactured from Merino wool 

 of the Bon Pedro sheep, from his own farm on the eastern shore, equal 

 in texture and fineness to any of the European cloths. On May 15, 

 1811, at the fair at Georgetown, B. C., a premium was given of $40 to 

 Roger Brooke, of Montgomery County, Md., for his half-blooded Merino 

 ram Hopewell, of Bupont's breed, and in the preceding year Mr. Bu- 

 pont exhibited two rams at the same fair. Notices of this stock at 

 various points in the five States named were common from 1809 to 1814. 



