148 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



of those that died to equal the extra number of twins, it would require 

 fourteen or fifteen years for 1,500 rams and 1,500 ewes to increase to 

 1,000,000 full-blooded sheep, for supposing one-half the increase to be 

 rams and one-half ewes they would each year only half double the num- 

 ber of the preceding year; but supposing 2,000 Merino rams in the 

 country to be crossed on 160,000 common ewes, the conclusion was 

 reached that in eight years there would be more millions of full-bred 

 Merino than the whole country could feed and the common sheep would 

 have entirely disappeared an improvement which was not welcomed, 

 for long wool was as much wanted as fine, and the old sheep were better 

 for mutton. 



But, as remarked, these speculative figures and conclusions were not 

 reached in actual fact, though the Merino made rapid strides in some 

 parts of the country. 



In New York the increase was especially great. The introduction of 

 the Merino wool, or even a small dash of it, into their flocks convinced 

 the farmers that soft, warm, substantial clothes could be made at home, 

 and this conviction nearly doubled the number of sheep in the State in 

 the four years from 1806 to 1810. Looms multiplied and almost every 

 farmer had a woman weaver. Everybody was increasing flocks and 

 improving them. The Livingston Merino kept on improving also, and 

 a half-bred ram that Livingston sold in 1808, weighed in 1810 190 

 pounds, and he had no doubt that he would rival Rambouillet in a few 

 years, so rapid was the improvement of his flock. He did not live to 

 see the realization of his hopes, dying in 1813 and leaving behind him 

 a reputation as " one of the most intelligent, public-spirited, and useful 

 friends of agriculture who belonged to the State." 



The Livingston sheep were quite widely distributed before his death, 

 They formed the basis of the woolen manufacture at Pittsfield, Mass., 

 and for many mills in Dutchess County, New York, where common and 

 superfine broadcloths were made which sold at a lower rate in 1811 

 than European cloth of the same fineness. As early as 1808 Livingston 

 presented himself to his admiring friends in the city of New York clad 

 entirely in a suit the wool of which was shorn from his own Merino 

 sheep and manufactured into cloth in his own county of Dutchess, and 

 estimated to be worth $7 a yard. Fine flocks in New Jersey had for 

 their foundation rams and ewes from Clermont on the Hudson; Dela- 

 ware had a strain of the blood iuDupont's stock; some notable amateur 

 farmers in the vicinity of Philadelphia prided themselves on their pos- 

 session; Gen. John Mason, of Analostan Island in the Potomac oppo- 

 site Georgetown, had at least one ram if not more, and his near neigh- 

 bor at Arlington, G. W. P. Custis, had a magnificent ram, " General 

 Hamilton," presented him by Livingston in 1810, which he used to im- 

 prove the wool of the noted Arlington long-wooled sheep. Gen. Wil- 

 kinson obtained a ram of Livingston in 1811 or 1812, which he carried 

 to Mississippi Territory, and from which some fine Merino flocks were 

 formed at that early date. 



