516 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



$150, and a proportionate sum for the ewes. About 1836 he purchased 

 some imported Saxonies, both rams and ewes, which were bred and 

 crossed on the Spanish Merino flock that he had bred since the Meade 

 purchase. His purchases of breeding rams embraced such as were 

 chosen from the leading flocks of his day, such as William Brownlee, 

 Peabody Atkinson, and others, derived from various sources. About 

 1841 Mr. Clark purchased a ram from the Saxony flock of Charles B. 

 Smith, of Connecticut. This ram was large and of strong constitution, 

 and proved a most excellent breeder. The style and character of his 

 wool is very plainly marked in the greater part of the flock at this day. 

 In 1856 the flock passed into the possession of John G. Clark. It had 

 been bred in line for a long time, always with regard to the size and 

 form of the sheep, as well as the fleece, which system was continued, 

 and in 1884 the flock consisted of lineal descendants of those pur- 

 chased by Joseph Clark in 1820. 



William Brownlee, who purchased at the same time with Mr. Clark, 

 from the same flock, crossed his Merinos with the long-wooled Saxons 

 received from Dutchess County, N. Y. In 1844 he said that his flock 

 was chiefly Saxon blood and averaged about 3 pounds of clean-washed 

 wool. He gave the preference to the Saxons, as their wool was rather 

 the finest and free of yolk. Mr. Brownlee housed his sheep in the win- 

 ter, during which time they ate from 6 to 8 tons of hay to the hundred, 

 good clover hay agreeing best with them. In summer they fed on the 

 blue grass of the hills and the clover and timothy in the valley. 



William Davis, who commenced keeping the Saxony sheep about 

 1835, was a shepherd in the employ of Mr. Brownlee and obtained his 

 first sheep from him. John McDowell was also a shepherd in the 

 employ of Mr. Brownlee, and in 1849, when the latter disposed of his 

 entire flock of 1,200 head, selected 227 of the best ewes and 3 rams as 

 the foundation of a flock which he subsequently bred pure, only cross- 

 ing on the flocks of William Davis, Joseph Clark, Col. James Lee, and 

 some others. Some of these crosses were from imported stock. Asbury 

 Struble commenced a flock about 1840 from some sheep from the flock 

 of Robert Hawkins, of Washington County, said to have been imported 

 Saxons. From that time he introduced changes of blood from about 

 thirty diiferent flocks, all claiming origin from imported stock, and 

 largely drawn from Washington County. His manner of breeding was 

 to keep a certain number of his flock pure with undoubted Saxony 

 blood. 



To enumerate the Saxony flocks would be impossible. At one period 

 of time, from 1835 to 1845, there were but few flocks that were not 

 Saxon in full or in part. Those who bred the purest Saxon were Gen. 

 Thomas Patterson, William Brownlee, Jesse Edington, James G. 

 Stream, Col. James Lee, Samuel Clokey, John H. Ewing, Samuel Pat- 

 terson, and many others. The Saxony flocks of this section were more 

 hardy than those of New York and New England at that time, and in 



