96 



Saxony Sheep. 



Vol. XII. 



Short-horn cow, to Richard Booth, of War- 

 laby, near Northallerton. The prizes for 

 the two best Hereford bulls, were awarded 

 to Samuel Aston, of Lynch Court, Leomin- 

 ster, and George Pitt, of Wellington, near 

 Hereford; for the best Hereford cow, to Wm. 

 Abbott, of Glinton, near Peterborough. The 

 prizes for the two best Devon bulls, were 

 awarded to Thomas Bond, of Bishops' Lyd- 

 iard, and the Duke of Manchester, Kimbol- 

 ton castle. In Leicester sheep, the two 

 prizes for rams in class 1, were awarded to 

 T. E. Pawlett, of Beeston ; the first prize in 

 class 2, to Robert Smith, of Burley-on-the- 

 Hill, near Oakham; for ewes to Wm. San- 

 day, of Holme Pierrepont, and Robert Smith. 

 In South Downs, Jonas Webb, of Babraham ; 

 John Harris, of Hinton ; and the Duke of 

 Manchester, obtained the prizes. In Cots- 

 wolds, Charles Large, of Broadwell, near 

 Lecdale, was the principal prize taker. All 

 these prizes were from 20 to 50 sovereigns. 



This Society has upwards of 7,000 mem- 

 bers. During the first day of the exhibition, 

 1,336 visitors entered the yards; the second 

 day, 2,738 ; and the third day, 22,090. At 

 the dinner of the Society, the Earl of Chi- 

 chester proposed the health of our Minister, 

 Mr. Bancroft, to which the latter replied in 

 an eloquent speech, which was received with 

 great applause. In allusion to the remark 

 of Efjrl C. that Britain and the United States 

 might "long remain in terms of brother- 

 hood," Mr. Bancroft said : 



"I respond fully, and in the name of every 

 American, in the wish that has been uttered, 

 that peace may be continued forever, (cheers) 

 nay, rather let us hope that the relations be- 

 tween our countries, the international intel- 

 ligence betwixt us, may lead to such inti- 

 mate relations that the very thought of the 

 disturbance of peace may be dismissed from 

 our minds, and that it may seem a vain, un- 

 necessary, and a useless prayer to pray that 

 peace may be perpetual (cheers). This, 

 gentlemen, is uttered from my heart, and 

 every one of my countrymen will, I am sure, 

 respond to it. I beg to renew my expres- 

 sions of gratitude for your kindness to me 

 on this occasion, and to offer my fer,vent 

 prayers for the prosperity of the farmers of 

 England." (loud cheers.) — Cultivator. 



Saxony Sheep. 



"In the year 1765, Augustus Frederick, 

 Elector of Saxony, obtained permission from 

 the Spanish Court to import two hundred 

 Merinos, selected from the choicest flocks of 

 Spain. They were chosen principally from 

 the Escurial flock, and on their arrival in 

 Saxony, were placed on a private estate be- 



longing to the Elector, under the care of 

 Spanish shepherds. So much importance 

 was attached to the experiment, as it was 

 then considered, that a commission was ap- 

 pointed to superintend the affairs of the es- 

 tablishment; and it was made its duty to 

 diffuse information in relation to the man- 

 agement of the new breed ; to dispose of the 

 surplus rams at prices which would place 

 them within the reach of all holders of 

 sheep; and finally, by explaining the supe- 

 rior value of the Merinos, to induce the 

 Saxon farmers to cross them with their na- 

 tive breeds. Popular prejudice, however, 

 was strong against them, and this was 

 heightened by the ravages of the scab, 

 which had been introduced with them from 

 Spain, and which proved very destructive 

 before it was finally eradicated. But when 

 it became apparent that the Merino, so far 

 from degenerating, had improved" in the 

 quality of its wool, in Saxony, "the wise 

 and patriotic efforts of the Elector began to 

 reap their merited success, and a revolution 

 took place in popular sentiment. The call 

 for rams became so great that the Govern- 

 ment resolved on a new importation, to en- 

 able them more effectually to meet it, and 

 to improve still farther the stock already ob- 

 tained. For this purpose an individual, con- 

 sidered one of the best judges of sheep in 

 Saxony, was dispatched to Spain in 1777, 

 with orders to select three hundred. For 

 some reason, probably because he experi- 

 enced difHculty in obtaining a greater num- 

 ber presenting all the qualifications he 

 sought, he returned with but one hundred 

 and ten. They were from nearly all the 

 diflTerent flocks of Spain, but principally the 

 Escurial — and were considered decidedly 

 superior to the first importation. In addi- 

 tion to the establishment at Stolpen, already 

 founded, others were now commenced at 

 Rennersdorf, Lohmen, &c.; schools were 

 established for the education of shepherds; 

 publications were distributed by the com- 

 missioners to throw information on the sub- 

 ject before the people ; and the Cro'wn ten- 

 ants, it is said, were each required to pur- 

 chase a certain number of the sheep." 



"The first importation of Saxony sheep 

 into the United States was made by Mr. 

 Samuel Henshaw, a merchant of Boston, at 

 the instance of Col. James Shepherd, of 

 Northampton. They were but six or seven 

 in number. In 1824, Messrs. G. & T, Searle, 

 of Boston, imported seventy-seven Saxon 

 sheep. They were selected and purchased 

 by a Mr. Kretchman, a correspondent of the 

 above firm, residing in Leipsic, and shipped 

 at Bremen on board the American schooner 

 Velocity. I was engaged to take charge of 



