EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



449 



ounces from G ewes. The lightest fleece of these 20 sheep weighed 7 

 pounds 8 ounces; the heaviest, 15 pounds 3 ounces; total, 194 pounds 4 

 ounces: average for each, 9 pounds 10 ounces. The wool sold for $1.75 

 per pound. Tbe following table, made by Gen. Mason in 1812 or 1813, 

 gives some interesting details of his sheep: 



Result. 



The fleece of each sheep weighed upon an average 6 pounds, 

 ounces, and the average weight of carcass of the 15 rams and ewes was 

 66^5 pounds. 



There were many others in Washington and vicinity who bred Me- 

 rino sheep, but not to such extent and with such care as did Gen. Ma- 

 son ; and his flock can be taken as the typical one of what could be real- 

 ized in the fine-wooled sheep industry on the Potomac. E. K. Meade, 

 whose successful efforts with the Frederick sheep has been noted, says 

 that of the Merino sheep of the District of Columbia in 1810 and 1811 

 the smallest and most indifferent had the most remarkably fine wool. 



Edward Lloyd, of Wye, Talbot county, Md., was a farmer delighting in 

 fine sheep of all kinds, of which lie had many. He was enthusiastic in his 

 advocacy of home manufacture, and in his address to the legislature 

 of the State, on assuming the office of governor, in November, 1810, 

 appeared in a suit of homespun made from wool taken from his own 

 Merino sheep. He was an early advocate and purchaser of the Merino, 

 and from his flock went many rams and ewes into other flocks on the 

 22990 29 



