132 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



Spanish Merino. — " The history of this celebrated race of sheep, so far 

 as it is known, has so often been brought before the public tliat it is deemed 

 unnecessary here to recapitulate it. The firat importation of them into 

 the United States took place in ISOl. Four were shipped by Mr. 

 Delesseit, a banker of Paris, three of which perished on the passage.* 

 The fourth arrived in safety at Rosendale, a farm owned by that gentle- 

 man near Kingston, in this State. The same year Mr. Seth Adams, of 

 Massachusetts, imported a pair from France. In 1802, two pairs wern 

 sent from France by Mr. Livingston, the American Minister, to his estate 

 on the Hudson ; and later the same year, Mr. Humphrys, our Spanish 

 Minister, shipped two hundred, on his departure from that country, for the 

 United States." Hon. William Jarvis, of Weathersfield, Vermont, then 

 American Consul at Lisbon, sent home large and valuable flocks in 1809, 

 1810, and 1811. The particularly favorable circumstances for obtaining 

 the choicest sheep of Spain, under which these were procured, you will 

 find detailed in a letter to me from Mr. Jarvis, dated December, 1841, pub- 

 lished in the Transactions of the New-York State Agricultural Society of 

 that year. Various subsequent importations took place, which it is not 

 important to particularize. 



The Merinos "attracted little notice, until our difiiculties with England led 

 to a cessation of commercial intercourse with that power, in 1808 and 1809. 

 The attention of the country being then directed toward manufacturing 

 and wool-growing, the Merino rose into importance. So great, indeed, 

 was the interest excited, that from a thousand to fourteen hundred dollars a 

 head was paid for them." Unfortunately some of the later importations " ar- 

 rived in the worst condition, bringing with them those scourges of the 

 ovine race, the scab and foot-rot. These evils and the increased supply 

 soon brought them down to less than a twentieth part of their former 

 price ; they could now be bought for $20 a head. When, however, it was 

 established, by actual experiment, that their wool did not deteriorate, as 

 had been feared by many, in this country, and that they became readily 

 acclimated, they again rose into favor. But the prostration of our manu- 

 factories, which soon after ensued, rendered the Merino comparatively of 

 little vakie, and brought ruin to numbers who had purchased them at their 

 previous high prices. The rise which has since taken place in the value 

 of fine wool, as vvell as the causes which led to it, are too recent and well 

 understood to require particular notice. With the rise of wool, the valua- 

 tion of the sheep which bear it, has of coujse kept pace. 



" The Merino has been variously described. This arises from the fact 

 that it is but the general appellation of a breed, comprising se\eral varie- 

 ties, presenting essential points of difference in size, form, quality and 

 quantity of wool." And writers of high authority differ even in their 

 descriptions of these families or varieties. M. Lasteyrie, so celebrated as 

 a writer on sheep, and particularly on the Merino, and Mi". Jarvis directly 

 contradict each other on several points.t It is scarcely necessary now 

 to quote their conflicting statements, or inquire which is right — as the ques- 

 tions involved possess no practical importance. These families have, gen 

 erally, been merged, by interbreeding, in the United States and other 

 countries which have received the race from Spain. Purity o^ Merino 

 bl >o(l, and actual excellence in the individual and its ancestors, has long 

 s: ice been the only standard which has guided sensible men in selecting 

 sheep of this breed. Families have indeed sprung up, in this country, ex 



* Archives of Useful Knowledce.— CultiTator, vol. i. p. 183. 



t See Lasteyrie on Sheep— or, if not accessible— his statements quoted by Mr. Youatt, p. 156. For M» 

 Urs'vi'a s'sicments, see his Letter t L. D. Gregory, quoted in American Shepherd, pp. 7U, 74. 



