286 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



sheep long enjoyed great celebrity and are now represented in the ped- 

 igrees of many excellent pure-bred flocks; but as a distinct family they 

 have mostly been merged in the Humphrey s-Atwood Merino and the 

 Bich-Paulars. 



Probably no State is better adapted to the production of grass and 

 the raising of fine stock, or can exhibit finer horses, cattle, and sheep 

 than Vermont, and of all its counties Addison ranks first in grass and 

 live stock. For years prior to 1810, and some years later wheat was 

 its staple. But wheat sometimes failed and thought was turned in 

 another direction. 



Several individuals, awakened to the wants and capabilities of the county by pri- 

 vations and embarrassments experienced during the interruption of our commerce 

 with foreign countries before and during the war with Great Britain, did, at great 

 expense, and incurring the penalty of all innovators, being laughed at by their 

 neighbors, introduce into the county Merino sheep. Among the foremost in this 

 beneficent work were Refine Weeks, Daniel Chipmau, George Cleveland, and Horatio 

 Seymour.* 



We have no records of the flocks introduced by these four named 

 gentlemen, but are further told by the historian that by failure of wheat, 

 the principal crop, by rust and the insects, the tendency towards 

 Merino sheep was strengthened, and so rapidly were they introduced 

 and the flocks changed that as early as 1824 in many towns a consid- 

 erable flock of common sheep could not be found. After this, and fol- 

 lowing the passage of the tariff act of 1828, a majority of the farmers 

 eagerly engaged in increasing their flocks of sheep. The result was 

 that Addison County had, in 1840, in proportion either to territory or 

 population, a greater number of sheep and produced more wool than 

 any other county in the United States. The census returns of 1840 

 show nine States which had more than one sheep to each inhabitant, 

 to- wit: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maine, Kentucky, Connecticut, and 

 Ohio, with a portion more than one, New York and New Hampshire 

 about 2J, and Vermont 5f to each inhabitant. To the square mile New 

 Hampshire had 65, New York 112, and Vermont 185. Addison County 

 had 11 sheep to each inhabitant, and 373 to the square mile. 



Mr. Chapman sees reason to believe that some of the sheep early 

 introduced into Addison County were procured from Mr. Jarvis by 

 Eichard Crowningshield and imported into New York. These were 

 driven from New York and kept in a pasture near Weybridge for a few 

 months, and finally sold to Horatio Seymour, who bred them for a num- 

 ber of years and distributed them somewhat widely among the farmers 

 of the vicinity. It was the impression these Seymour sheep produced 

 upon the mind of the late Edwin Hammond, when a boy, that caused 

 him to look for the Atwood sheep, which he said were the first he had 

 ever found that looked like Seymour sheep the peculiarities spoken of 

 that gave them the resemblance, being mainly in the appearance of the 

 ends of the wool or surface of the fleece. 



* Swift's History of Addison County. 



