SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



vesant's, 2 miles from New York, 100 ewes and 100 bucks, Negretti, 

 Guadaloupe, and Montarcos, from Lisbon in the ship Cornelia. 



Of the twenty-two arrivals at Philadelphia, with about 2,500, the 

 first was the Transit from Ayamonte, near Cadiz, carrying 200 Infan 

 tado sheep. Capt. Edward Meade was master of the vessel and Capt. 

 Charles Stewart, U. S. Navy, was a passenger and part owner of the 

 sheep. The sheep were part of the purchase made by Charles Henry 

 Hall of the Duke de Infantado, elsewhere noted. They were offered at 

 private sale and were advertised as having been " selected with the great- 

 est care from the Duke de Infantado's flock of 30,000 on the mountains 

 of Sierra Morena, the best in Spain." Failing to dispose of them at 

 private sale, Freeman & Passmore ottered 150 at auction, on September 

 20. This sale was unsuccessful; was postponed from time to time, and 

 again the sheep were on private sale, but few being disposed of at the 

 close of the year. 



On September 7, Freeman & Passmore advertised that 57 full-blooded 

 Merinos had just landed (by the James Murdoch, probably), selected 

 from one of the finest flocks in Spain, and that they would be offered for 

 sale on the 12th. They were not all sold, and on the 19th 50, including 

 some of another lot, were again offered without reserve and sold at very 

 low figures. As a commentary on the slow sales and low prices at this 

 time it may be stated that a Philadelphia paper asserts, at a later day, 

 that when the Merinos were first offered for sale near Philadelphia their 

 merits were so unknown or overlooked that their lambs were sold to 

 the butchers for lack of other purchasers, though the sheep were then 

 offered at moderate prices. 



The Jarvis shipments to Philadelphia were consigned to Levi Hol- 

 lingsworth & Sons. The first arrival was the Sally and Mary, Septem- 

 ber 12, with L'OO sheep. The largest purchaser was James Caldwell, of 

 New Jersey, for his farm at Haddonfield. At this sale he bought 190 

 sheep for $28,500, or $150 each, and at another sale made purchases 

 amounting to $3,000. Of these sheep we find notice the folio wing year. 

 The first meeting of the "Merino Society of the United States," of 

 which Mr. Caldwell was president, was held at his farm at Haddonfield, 

 on October 5, 1811, and was largely attended by members, farmers, pro- 

 prietors, and manufacturers. Between 200 and 300 full-blooded Merinos 

 in the finest order, both of fleece and flesh, were shown, " their appear- 

 ance proving, beyond all controversy, that the soil, climate, and food of 

 Jersey are congenial with the health and excellence of this inestimable 

 animal. A large number of those examined were, when purchased 

 from the importers, feeble, pining, and more or less diseased, but the 

 whole flock was completely recruited." 



The account then goes on to a comparison with the descendants of 

 the Muller ram and the Humphrey ewes: 



And it is certain that Mf. Caldwell, in all his enterprising purchases from .the late 

 importations of Spanish sheep, has never met with any equal in appearance, fineness 



