190 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 





There are some statements made by Mr. Jarvis which must be noted, 

 one of which is, that he shipped Merino sheep to the United States in 



1809. This must be an error; if true, no evidence of the fact has come 

 to our knowledge. He is also much in error as to the number shipped 

 by others in 1810, placing it at about 2,500, while, on the contrary, over 

 10,000 were shipped by others, mostly by Cochrane Johnston, Goold 

 Bros. & Co., and Charles O'Neill at Lisbon, and by R. W. Meade and 

 others at Cadiz. Cochmne Johnston, who had charge of 8,000 sheep, 

 turned over to the British Government by the Spanish Junta, was per- 

 mitted to purchase several thousand more on his own account, about 

 3,000 of which he sent to New York before the middle of December, 



1810. They were mostly Aguirres. Mr. Jarvis left Lisbon in October, 

 1810, and Mr. Green, his consular clerk, who was left in charge of his 

 office and his private business, wrote him December 14, 1810: " Almost 

 every vessel bound for the United States since you left has carried 

 sheep, so I suppose nearly 5,000 have gone and are going." Charles 

 O'Neill had been a partner of Mr. Jarvis in his first venture and had 

 sold out, after which he purchased and shipped on his own account. 



Of the Negretti flock purchased by Sir Charles Stewart, and shipped 

 to England as mentioned by Mr. Jarvis, some of their descendants 

 found their way to Albion, Edwards County, 111., in 1817, and we have 

 this account of them given by their owner, George Flower, in 1841 : 



Sir Charles Stewart, the English ambassador, purchased the royal flock. He 

 shipped them after a hurried drive, scarcely out of reach of the pursuing enemy, some 

 hundreds of miles. Six thousand only reached the shores of England, and after the 

 lapse of a year 2,000 sheep survived. These were purchased by my father * * * . 

 Some additions were afterwards made from the Paular and Escurial flocks. When 

 I emigrated to this country, in 1817, I brought with me six of the finest animals of the 

 wool-bearing species ever brought to this country. This is the origin of my flock ; 

 they have been kept on the same district and on the same farm, where I now reside, 

 ever since. No deterioration of the wool has taken place ; on the contrary, the wool 

 fiber of them is somewhat finer. Eighty ewes, purchased at Lancaster, Ohio, 

 formerly from the Steubenville flock, has been the only addition to the pure-bred 

 stock. * 



These were the first Merino sheep introduced into the State of Illi- 

 nois. 



The act of Congress of May 1, 1810, removing the embargo and open- 

 ing trade, or at least permitting it to shift for itself, let loose from every 

 seaport of the United States, from Maine to Georgia, nimble skippers 

 carrying wheat, corn, flour, rye, barley, codfish, beef, bacon, beans, 

 rice, pitch, and other stores for the powers then contending in the 

 Spanish peninsula. Opportunely these skippers began to arrive at 

 Lisbon and Cadiz at the time the Spanish cabanas were being sold. 

 The cargo of flour, meat, and rice was landed and sold and the money 

 invested in a cargo of Merino sheep and brought to the United States. 

 As flour sold from $17 to $18 per barrel, corn $2 to $3 per bushel, and 



* American Cultivator, Vol. x, 1841. 



