MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 145 



$1,000 each, and ewes at $300 to $500. But with the industrial 

 disturbances attendant upon the war of 1812, Merino sheep in three 

 years time decreased in value to one dollar per head. 



During the depression 'of the next few years interest in Merinos 

 was almost entirely wanting, but with the general industrial revival 

 and a demand for fine wool, the Saxony Merino was introduced, 

 by importation, in 1824, and for a few years they were the fashion. 

 They were a type of Merino bred with a single idea, viz. : fineness 

 of fleece. They proved of little practical value, although the great 

 majority of the breeders of the Spanish Merinos crossed them on 

 their flocks. One noteworthy exception to this was the Eich flock 

 of Vermont, owned at that time by the two brothers, John T. 

 and Charles, which was kept entirely free from the use of Saxony 

 sheep. This flock of sheep was maintained by the Eich family 



Vermont Merinos Bissell Type. 



for nearly three quarters of a century, until the last male de- 

 scendant died, and was unquestionably one of the foremost flocks 

 of the breed during its entire existence. Sheep which carried Eich 

 blood were considered to be of the bluest and best. 



Following the use of the Saxony we find a continued period of 

 depression in the sheep business, and a consequent lack of im- 

 portance of the Merino, although some of his breeders were making 

 steady improvement. Another conspicuous breeder in those early 

 days was Stephen Atwood, of Connecticut, who founded his flock in 

 1813, and maintained it as long as he lived, until 1867, when it was 

 continued by his sons. In 1844 he made momentous sale of ewes 

 to Edwin Hammond, of Vermont, in whose hands greater improve- 

 ment in the same length of time was made than by any other 

 breeder. Later, in the palmy days of long pedigrees and fancy 

 prices, Atwood sheep were among the leaders. 



In the late '40s the price of wool began to increase a little and 



