282 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



ram from the Stoddard flock, and the quarter-blood rams which he 

 reared from this ram and native ewes were the first sheep containing 

 any Merino blood produced in the county. Mr. Stoddard hired half- 

 blood rams to Mr. Cleveland and others for several years at $10 per 

 annum, or sold them for $50, and hired the first full-blooded Merino 

 ram that went into Washington County to N. Wilson, of Salem, in 

 1809. The price was $50 for the season. 



As early as 1808 or 1809, Humphreys had some full-blood Merino 

 rams at Hartland, Yt., and as the person who had them in charge did 

 not use them to his satisfaction, Humphreys sought for some person 

 who would take them, use them well, and have their use for nothing. 

 There appears to have been two of these rams, the largest one valued 

 at $1,000 and the smaller one at $950, and for reasons not now known 

 they were called the Mies rams. These rams were placed in the care 

 of Mark Eichards and his nephew, Luther Richards, of Westminster. 

 The Eichards bred their common ewes to these rams, and there was 

 such a marked improvement in the quality of the fleece that they con- 

 cluded to purchase some full-blood ewes, and attended the auction 

 sales of Capt. Nathan Dorrs, of Eoxbury, Mass., and purchased several, 

 probably of the early Jarvis importations. The Eichards at first used 

 Humphreys rams (and perhaps some ewes), and then purchased both 

 rams and ewes of William Jarvis. They continued to breed the Me- 

 rino sheep for several years. Eldad Harlow, of Westminster, informed 

 Mr. Chapman that when a boy he saw these Eichards sheep and that 

 they " looked black as muddy hogs." The Harlows purchased some of 

 these sheep of Mr. Eichards, and bred them for a long term of years, 

 but the Eichards flock, of a thousand or more, were ruined by the in- 

 troduction of Saxony blood, like so many more of the fine flocks of 

 Merino sheep of that day. 



July 25, 1810, Elias Gallup, of Woodstock, advertised in the Wash- 

 ingtonian of that town rams from the Humphreys flock, not full-bloods, 

 but two-eighths to six-eighths, and from the number of towns where they 

 were to be seen it would appear that they were being liberally offered; 

 also that they were quite widely disseminated. The notice reads: 



Such sheep can be had by applying to the subscriber on Woodstock Green ; Samuel 

 Burner, of this town; Judge Keys, of Stockbridge; Elisha Hotchkiss, of Chelsea; 

 Oliver Lathrop, of Sharon; Freeman Leavitt, of Hartford; Dr. Phineas Parkhurst, 

 of Lebanon, N. H., and Samuel Montague, of Bridgewater, where samples of wool 

 and cloth made from the said wool can be seen. * * * All who possess higher 

 blooded than the above can show it by certificates from the subscriber, or Col. Hum- 

 phreys, who has an accurate account of the whole of said sheep in this part of the 

 country. 



The same paper, October 6, 1810, contained an advertisement of 

 Capt. Pettis that " the famous full-blooded Niles ram will be kept for 

 use this season on such terms as shall be agreed upon." 



Col. Humphreys had in view, principally, a large supply of wool for 

 manufacturing purposes, hence his pushing into Vermont and New 



