190 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Aug. 



Merino Sheep. 



Mr. Editor. — Blacklock tells us that there 

 cannot be a more certain sign of rapid advances 

 being made among a people in civilization and 

 prosperity, than when increasing attention is paid 

 to the raising and improvement of live stock, — 

 and a;* this invaluable variety (the Merino,) is 

 fast taking the place of the coarser, lighter 

 fleeced, and consequently less hardy animals, 

 and as the Mountain State, so celebrated for this 

 variet]/, seems to attract the greatest attention 

 for a :5upply, it may not be out of place for me 

 to sa}-' that I have at different times visited va- 

 rious portions of that State, and have seen some 

 flocks of Merino sheep that I think are truly ex- 

 cellent. The most that I have seen are in or 

 neeir Addison County. They are valued high, 

 especially so where they have been properly 

 bred and where the ownei-s can produce unques- 

 tionable evidence of their sheep being pure de- 

 scendants of the early importations of the Span- 

 ish Merino. Possibly, in the absence of such 

 evidence, a picture, or some high sounding title 

 may be substituted sometimes; perhaps Paular, 

 in some instances. But as the wool-grower re- 

 quires the purity of the blood and the merit in 

 the animal, I would suggest to those who wish to 

 purchase and who think the purity of the blood 

 essential, the propriety of getting information 

 respecting pedigree from some very reliable 

 source. That there are pure bred Merino sheep 

 tliere, in the hands of different men, I suppose 

 no one will doubt; but that there are very many 

 that are not such, but are high grades. I have every 

 reason to believe. Now I will not call names, 

 nor do I wish to reflect upon any particular flock 

 unfavorably, but merely state, as it may benefit 

 others, that I have been in that vicinity at differ 

 ent times for the only purpose of obtaining Me- 

 rino sheep that M-ere thorough bred beyond a 

 doubt, and I think with success. It have taken 

 much pains, in different places, to examine flocks 

 and converse with individuals, and am satisfied 

 that some owners of flocks may and probably do 

 think their flocks are purely Merino, but have 

 no good evidence of that fact. 1 called on one 

 who favored me with an examination of his sheep 

 ■and after selecting a favorite animal, for which 

 he asked me forty dollare, I asked him if he was 

 a pure Merino. He answered, that he was as 

 pure as any; lie said he was a certain man's 

 kind of sheep. Of another I inquired respect 

 ing a certain flock of sheep, some of which he 

 had himself become the owner, which he called 

 full blooded. I told him that the purity of their 

 blood was questioned; his reply was that when 

 he purchased them for full bloods and received 

 a certificate of their blood it was sufficient, and 

 if there should happen to be anything wrong 

 4ibout it he was not to blame. Another said his 

 were full blooded; but on inquiring from what 



flock they descended, he said they descend- 

 ed from a flock his father owned; he did not 

 know from what particular flock of Merinos they 

 descended, but that they were full blooded, &c. 



Now I think this very poor evidence of any 

 of these sheep being pure; and as it is necessa- 

 ry and highly important that this most valuable 

 variety should be kept pure and unmixed for the 

 benefit of the country, would it not be well for 

 those who raise sheep to be distributed through- 

 out the country to be very careful about this 

 matter, and look carefully back to the time of 

 the introduction of the Saxonies and see whose 

 hands they were in then. I think the breeder 

 of pure sheep should be in possession of a certi- 

 ficate from a reliable source, certifying that his 

 sheep sprang from imported stock, and that they 

 are known to have been bred pure ever since, 

 and perfectly free from any mixture with any 

 other variety; otherwise how can imposition be 

 guarded against. 



The late H. D. Grove says, (in Morrel's 

 American Shepherd,) that a large portion of the 

 imported Saxon sheep were not pure blooded, 

 but that they were all sold as pure blooded Elec- 

 toral Sheep; and that thus unfortunately in the 

 outset the pure and impure became irrevocably 

 mixed. He also informs us of one or two car- 

 goes being imported that were exclusively full 

 blood Electoral Saxon sheep. I think, there- 

 fore, with all due deference, that the owner of 

 the sheep should be in possession of unquestion- 

 able evidence of the fact. I know of no reason 

 why sufficient evidence of the purity of the blood 

 of animals is not as essential when sending them 

 from one part of a country to another, as it is 

 when sending them from one country to another. 

 It seems by a letter written by Hon. Wm. Jak- 

 vis, to the editor of the Watchman and Journal, 

 on the subject of importing Merino sheep, that 

 he deems it highly essential. When importing 

 he says no sensible man would ship animals to 

 another country for breed, without a certificate 

 of the purity of their blood; also the port from 

 whence exported; the name of the tessel in 

 which exported; the captain's name; at what 

 port in the United States they arrived; the time, 

 and a certificate from a proper officer of that 

 Government, oflficially verified by an American 

 Consul, that they were pure blooded. And who 

 would suppose that any man in Vermont would 

 go to the expense of purchasing these sheep of 

 Consul Jarvis, or any other man known to have 

 them, without a certificate attesting their blood 

 that cannot be questioned. If purchasers would 

 be very particular respecting this I think it might 

 often protect thera from imposition. Let the 

 pure blood stand on its own merits, and also the 

 grade; let the purchaser get what he pays for, 

 and I think he will be better pleased than when 

 he pays for a full blood without being sure that 

 he gets it. 



