290 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



patrick, sired by Comet and bred by Mr. Sauford, deserve notice]! 

 Eureka was bred in 1861, liis dam au Atwood ewe. He weighed 150, 

 pounds in full fleece, and was even and well proportioned. He was 

 straight-backed, moderately round in the rib, and deep in carcass; his 1 

 head was broad and well-shaped and carried well up; nose short, 

 broad and well- wrinkled and soft and velvety to the touch; his fleece 

 was dense, extra style and quality, highly crimped and well carried a| 

 all points; staple 2J inches long; fiber 3J inches long; oil white andjj 

 coated him well on the outside; weight of fleece 25 pounds. He wa$j 

 fashionably folded for his day, carrying a good neck, tail and flank, witlt 

 some hip and thigh folds also. He obtained great celebrity as a stock; 

 ram, improving the flock of his owner, and was extensively patronized 

 by many breeders in his neighborhood, earning for his owner $S 3 600. 

 Mr. Sanford sold him as a lamb to W. O. Bascom, by whom h^f 

 was sold when a yearling to S. S. Rockwell, West Cornwall, Vt.^ 

 whose property he died at 7 years of age. Kilpatrick, it is believedj 

 was the first Atwood ram that sheared a fleece of one year's growth! 

 that weighed over 30 pounds. He was bred in 1864. He weighed iJ 

 full fleece 160 pounds, which at that day was considered very heavy J 

 He was heavy -boned, with great length of carcass and was well folded! 

 at neck, tail, across the thigh and flank, and somewhat wrinkled back! 

 of the shoulder. His fleece was of fair density, scarcely medium in] 

 quality, and fairly crimped. Staple 2 inches long. The weight of hisj 

 fleece was at the highest 31 pounds. The oil was buff in color andj 

 abundant. He had great stamina and constitutional vigor. His horn J 

 were immensely strong and well-nigh covered the top of his skull. He 

 was sold to Jed Hyde, of Sudbury, Vt., and by him to L. P. Clark, oJ 

 Addison, in the same State, at whose place he died in 1874. Mr. Sanl 

 ford's flock usually numbered from 150 to 200, and were all descendant J 

 of the Humphreys and Atwood shuep. They had few equals in size oi 

 carcass, density and weight of fleece. 



The most noted successor of Stephen Atwood as a breeder of the! 

 Atwood sheep was Edwin Hammond, of Middlebury, Vt. In January, 

 1844, W. S. and E. Hammond, of Middlebury, and K. P. Hall, of Corn4 

 wall, purchased from Mr. Atwood and his neighbors (these latter werl 



r certified by the sellers as being full-blooded from Mr. At wood's flock] 

 and by Mr. Atwood as being pure Humphreys) over 100 ewes and rams! 

 They also bought of Mr. Joseph I. Bailey 6 ewes, which were bred onel 

 year and the original stock and the increase then disposed of. In one! 

 instance in purchasing of Mr. Atwood the entire lot of ewe lambs ofl 

 one year was taken; in another one-third of the old ewes, Mr. Atwood! 

 taking the first and third and the Hammonds and Mr. Hall the second^ 



.of each two. From these several purchases have come the improved'' 

 Merino represented by the Hammond flock. They were kept within 



.their own blood and the Atwood blood thus kept intact. The cele- 

 brated rains Wooster, Young Matchless, Oh} Greasy, Old Wrinkley,! 



