SHEEP. 211 



Vermont, and other public spirited citizens imported large 

 numbers of merino sheep from Spain and France, which were 

 rapidly distributed, and greatly improved the character of the 

 native breeds already in the country. Elkanah Watson, Esq., 

 the father of the Berkshire Agricultural Society, deserves hon- 

 orable mention also in this connection, for his efforts to intro- 

 duce merino sheep into this State. About 1786 the French 

 government devoted great attention to the culture of sheep. It 

 imported from Spain the finest merino sheep that could be 

 obtained, and in the space of ten years, raised the average 

 product of wool from six and one-half pounds to nine pounds 

 per head. The king of Prussia and the elector of Saxony at 

 the same time devoted earnest attention to sheep culture. 

 ' Prom the European flocks thus improved, the finest samples 

 were selected for importation into this country. The climate 

 and soil, especially of New England, were found well adapted to 

 their constitutions and liabits. 



These importations, with those which have been subsequently 

 added to them, constitute the basis of the wool-bearing sheep 

 now in the country, and it is believed that no finer sheep can 

 now be found in the world for the prodtiction of wool. 



They belong to the smaller varieties of sheep, are prolific and 

 hardy, and their thick heavy fleeces enable them to bear the 

 variable and extreme weather of our climate. They are now 

 spread over the Western and Southern portions of the country. 



In 1850 there were nearly twenty-two millions of sheep in 

 the country^ yielding fifty-two and a half millions of pounds of 

 wool. The number has greatly increased since 1850, and yet 

 more than twenty millions of pounds of wool are annually 

 imported. 



Within a few years the long-woolled varieties have been intro- 

 duced, among which the Leicester and the Cotswold are the 

 most prominent. Their wool is particularly suited to the 

 fabrication of worsted goods, and the demand for it is rapidly 

 increasing. 



They are much larger than the fine-woolled varieties, are 

 hardy and prolific, and make excellent mutton, not unfre- 

 quently weighing from forty to fifty pounds per quarter. 



The South Downs, a middle-woolled breed, have also been 

 introduced within a few years, and "for hardiness of constitu- 



