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82 



THE ILLIISrOIS FA.RMER. 



belonging to Seth Wright, and occurred in 

 1791. 



An ewe of the long-legged New England 

 breed, being copulated with a tup of the 

 same breed, gave birth to twins, one of which 

 was a male, with extremely short legs^ which 

 were turned out at the knees in such a manner 

 as to render them rickety. They could not 

 run or jump, and even walked with difficulty. 

 The body was long and round, but not large, 

 and the breed was well formed, except as to 

 leg.<. Their wool was similar to other New 

 England sheep, and of medium length. 



Curiosity at first led to the breeding from 

 this ram, and the progeny presented a strik- 

 ing likeness to the size. They were valued 

 only because they could be easily kept with- 

 in the stone wall fences of New England. 

 But as tliey were not well formed for moving 

 about in deep snows, or traveling to market, 

 the breed has been abandoned, and become 

 extinct. 



THE AKLINGTON LONG-WOOLED SHEEP. 



Mr. Livingston notices this breed sub- 

 stantially as follows : — "These, Mr. Custis, 

 who was the original owner of them, informs 

 me, were derived from the stock of that dis- 

 tinguished farmer, statesman, and patriot, 

 Washington, who had collected at Mt. Ver- 

 non, whatever he believed useful to the 

 agriculture of his country; and among other 

 animals, a Persian ram, which Mr. Custis 

 describes as being very large and well formed, 

 carrying wool of great length, but of coarse 

 staple. 



"This stock, intermixed with the Bakewell, 

 are the source from which the fine Arlington 

 sheep are derived — some of which carry wool 

 fourteen inches in length, and their wool was 

 fine for the sort, soft, silky, and beautifully 

 white. They are formed upon the Bakewell 

 model." 



This breed is still in high estimation 

 among some of the farmers in Virginia and 

 Maryland, but are now much inferior to their 

 ancestors, and the long-wooled British breeds, 

 both for mutton and value of fleece. — L. A. 

 Mnrrel. 



smith's island SHEEP. 



This island, and the sheep bred upon itj 

 were the property of IMr. Custis, and the 

 following is extracted from his account of 

 them : 



"This island lies in the Atlantic Ocean, 

 immediately at the Eastern cape of Virginia, 

 and contains between three and four thous- 

 sand acres. The length of this island is es- 

 timated at fourteen miles, which gives that 

 variety and ch .nge of pasture so necessary to 



the system of sheep farming. The soil, 

 though sandy, is in luany parts extremely 

 rich, and productive of a succulent herbage, 

 which supports the stock at all seasons. 

 About one-half of this island is in wood, 

 T.hich is pierced with glades running paral- 

 lel \s'\\h. the s^a, and of several miles in ex- 

 tent. These glades aro generally wet, and 

 being completely sheltered hy the wood on 

 either side, preserve their vegetation, in a 

 grrat measure, through the Winter, and 

 thereby yield a support to the stack. Along 

 the sea coast, also, are abundant scopes of 

 pasturage, producing a short grass in sum- 

 mer, which is peculiarly grateful to the pal- 

 ates of most animals, and particularly to 



sheep. The access to salt, also forms a ma- 

 terial feature in the many attributes which 

 Smith's Island possesses. 



"The origin of the Smith's Island sheep 

 cannot be precisely ascertained, but they are 

 supposed to be the indigenous race of the 

 country, put thereon about twenty years 

 since, and improved by the hand of Nature. 

 Their wool was very white, and comparative- 

 ly fine, and was soft and silky to the touch. 

 The staple was from eight to ten inches in 

 length, and the fleeces averaged about eight 

 pounds. 



"The descendants of these flocks, although 

 greatly degenerated, are diffused over a wide 

 section of Virginia, and further South." — 

 J. A. Morrel. 



The accidental formation of this breed of 

 sheep upon this island, shows the influence 

 of rich pasturage upon the quality of the 

 fleece, and the propriety of placing long- 

 wooled breeds upon the rich level lands of 

 the Western States. 



JAMAICA SHEEP, 



The island of Jamaica is situated in about 

 eighteen degrees north latitude. Being sur- 

 rounded by the ocean, the heat of the torrid 

 zone is tempered by its breezes. On this 

 island has originated a breed of sheep, the 

 descendants of European coarse-wooled sheep, 

 which is thus described in the American 

 Philosophical Transactions, volume 5, page 

 153: 



"The Jamaica sheep forms a distinct vari- 

 ety, altogether different from any other I 

 have ever seen. The hair is a substance 

 sui generis, and is different from the kemp 

 and stitchel hair of Europe, as from the long 

 tough hair of the Russian, and other hairy 

 breeds. The wool, too, is as different from 

 that of other sheep wool as the hair; it is finer 

 than any other, not excepting the Shetland 

 breed, although I should suspect that it is 

 scarcely so soft," 



The accidental formation of this breed of 

 sheep, from such an original, shows most con- 

 clusively that a mild and rather warm tem- 

 perature is most congenial to the fine wooled 

 sheep. 



INTRODUCTION OF MERINOES INTO THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



Previous to the year 1800, a few, and only 

 a few improved coarse wooled sheep had been 

 imported into the United States from Britain 

 and Holland. But as the people of the 

 United States, in those times, were not sen- 

 sible of the value of superior breeds of sheep, 

 these imported sheep had little influence in 

 improving the breed of sheep in the United 

 States, and comparatively few good sheep 

 existed in these States. The importation of 

 Merinos, and the high prices of their wool 

 shortly afterwards, gave the first great impe- 

 tus in the improving breeds of sheep. 



The first importation of Merino sheep 

 into the United States, was by the Hon. Wm. 

 Foster, a merchant of Boston. In April, 

 1773, being at Cadiz, in Spain, he purchased 

 of a drover from the Sierra Morena, three 

 Merino sheep, on condition that he should 

 bring them down with the droves for the 

 shambles, and deliver them outside the city 

 gate to a certain fisherman, who smuggled 

 them for him on board the ship Bald Eagle, 

 Capt, John Atkins, master. With thesg^ 

 sheep, he arrived safe at Boston. Soon after. 



being about to leave the United States for a 

 long residence in France, he presented these 

 sheep to his friend, Andrew Cragie, Esq., of 

 Cambridge, who supposed that, as we had no 

 woolen manufactories in the United States, at 

 that time, these sheep were not particularly 

 valuable, and ate them. 



Early in the year 1081, Mr. Delessert, a 

 French banker, purchased two pairs of Meri- 

 nos, selected from the celebrated Rambouillet 

 flock, near Paris, and shipped them the same 

 year to the United States. Three of them 

 perished on their passage; the survivor, a 

 ram, was placed on his farm, near Kingston, 

 N. Y. 



In the same year, Mr. Setli Adams, (now 

 of Zanesville, Ohio,) imported a pair from 

 France, in the brig Reward, which arrived at 

 Boston in the month of October. 



In the year 1802, Robert R. Livingston, 

 being Minister Plenipotentiary from the 

 United States at the Court of France, obtain- 

 ed three or four Merinos of the Rambouillet 

 flock, which he sent to New York, and placed 

 on his farm. 



In the year 1801, Col. David Humphrey, 

 being then Minister Plenipotentiary at the 

 Court of Spain, purchased two hundred 

 Merinos in Spain, and shipped them to the 

 United States. They arrived early in the 

 spring of 1802. The manner of his obtain- 

 ing them is thus related by Mr. William 

 Jarvis : 



"It was the custom of the Spanish Court, 

 when a foreign Minister was recalled, on tak- 

 ing leave, to make him a present of five or 

 ten bars of gold — each bar, if I recollect right, 

 was of one pound weight. But as the law of 

 this country forbids any Minister taking any 

 present from a foreign Court, Mr. Humphreys 

 declined it, but suggested to the Minister 

 that he should be much gratified with a royal 

 license to take out of the kingdom two hun- 

 dred Merino sheep. This the Minister stated, 

 could not be granted, but intimated that if he 

 wished to take them out, no obstruction 

 should be thrown in this way. These were 

 purchased in lower Leon, or upper Estrama- 

 dura, and driven down the valley of the Mon- 

 dego to Figueira, where they were embarked 

 for the United States. I never could learn 

 out of what flock these sheep were obtained, 

 but they were unquestionably pure blood 

 Transhumants, which is the only fact of im- 

 portance worth knowing." 



In the years 1808-11, large numbei-s of 

 Merinos were imported to the United States. 

 The following is an extract from Mr. Wm. 

 Jarvis' account of their importation. He 

 says : 



"I attempted, in 1806, also in 1807, to ob- 

 tain some from the most celebrated flocks ; 

 but the laws were so strict against their ex- 

 portation without a ro3'al license, that I failed 

 of success. After the French invasion in 

 1801, the law became more relaxed, and in 

 1809, by special favor, I obtained two hun- 

 dred Escurials. At the second invasion of 

 the French, under Joseph Bonaparte, the 

 rapidity of the march of the French troops 

 hurried the supreme Junta from Madrid, 

 and they retired toBadajos. Bring without 

 money and being afraid of disgusting the 

 Estramadurans, by levying a tax on them, 

 they were compelled to sell four of the first 

 flocks in Spain, which had been confiscated 



