Vermont, bought from a Mr. Atwood of Connecticut, a 

 flock of pure bred Spanish Merino sheep, shearing about 

 five pounds per head of fine wool. Tliey were somewiiat 

 delicate, bad-shaped, with little or no wool on faces, legs or 

 bellies, but possessing a lineage which rendered them capa- 

 ble of transmitting a fine fleece, which constituted their 

 chief value. Recognizing the defects in his siieep, and 

 having ever before him '"in his mind's eye" the standard 

 he wished to attain, Mr. Hammond by careful and judicious 

 selection of the best animals, and by persistent and intelli- 

 gent in-breeding, founded a breed of sheep, which wiU 

 yield fifteen pounds of fine wool per head, and the beauty 

 of whose forms cannot be excelled, of strong constitutions 

 and good habits, faces, legs and bellies covered with a 

 wealtli of fine wool. The production of this superior breed 

 of sheep known as the American Merino, has added mil- 

 lions of dollars to the wealth of the world, for they have 

 spread wherever fine wooled sheep are bred, enabled the 

 founder to amass a fortune, doubled the value of the farms 

 in his county, quadrupled the wealth of the county, and 

 given it an impetus which all the recent years of dull 

 wool markets have been unable wholly to check. It took 

 Mr. Hammond nearly twenty years to accomplisli this 

 thing, and the talent which he brought to bear upon the 

 work, amounted almost, if not quite, to genius. Many 

 young men, how^ever, have followed in his footsteps, have 

 kept up the purity and excellence of this breed, and in no 

 case in which they have intelligently and judiciously done 

 so, have they failed to reap their reward. 



I recollect an ii*itance which will illustrate the point I 



