EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 77 



Eighty dollars for the next best two-toothed ram lamb. 



Sixty dollars for the third best two-toothed ram lamb. 



Best as to quantity of wool for the carcass. 



The first exhibition of this society took place at Georgetown, May 16, 

 1810, and was largely attended by the planters of the adjacent country 

 and the national ofBcials, including the President of the United States 

 and members of his cabinet. The sheep shown and the prizes awarded 

 have been given on a preceding page. 



The Berkshire (Mass.) County fair and cattle show was a typical Kew 

 England institution. It was organized in 1809, and the meetings were 

 held at Pittsfleld. The exercises began by a procession to the church, 

 where prayer was offered, hymns and patriotic odes sung, and appro- 

 priate addresses delivered. Then an adjournment was effected to the 

 show grounds, where live stock and domestic manufactures were on 

 exhibition. Sheep were favorite animals and attracted a good share of 

 attention, for woolen mills had been established and the growth of fine 

 wool was encouraged. Most of the sheep shown were Merinos or mixed 

 bloods. At the first show, October, 1810, 283 sheep were exhibited by 

 Elkanah Watson, David Humphreys, Mr. Colt, and others, most of them 

 of Merino blood, and a few full-blooded Southdown and Amsterdam 

 rams, and ewes, and two half-blood Irish ewes, the fleeces of which 

 weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and 7 pounds 8 ounces, respectively. 



Some scattering notices gleaned from the papers of the day, serve as 

 landmarks in the march of improvement. In 1809 Alexander Stuart, 

 of Maryland, had five fleeces, which yielded him 43 pounds of wool. In 

 1807 Mr. Covenhoes, of Middletown, N. J., raised from 20 ewes 54 

 lambs, and in 1808, from the same number of ewes, 60 lambs. The 

 ewes had lambs twice, and some of them twins at each time. In 1809 

 a sheep owned by Mr. Melvin, of Georgia, sheared 14 pounds of wool 

 16 inches long, and a traveler in the back parts of that State informed 

 Dr. Mease that he found at the bottom of the Iron Mountain a district 

 abounding with sheep, the fineness of whose wool excited his admira- 

 tion. The people had everything they wished for. They bought noth- 

 ing but salt. Their houses were filled with clothing from the fine wool 

 mentioned, mixed with cotton, and all raised and woven by themselves. 

 A traveler farther south, in the Mobile district, says that in 1809 sheep 

 were scarcely known. There were probably 100 head among the set- 

 tlers in Washington County. The few, however, which were kept were 

 healthy and thriving; but the wool was generally coarse, and had a 

 tendency in many cases to be hairy. At the yearly sheep-shearing "at 

 the clover field," near Trenton, N. J., one ram weighed on foot 173 

 pounds, and gave 8 pounds of wool. A ewe of 123 pounds gave 11 



pounds of wool. 



Early in 1809 a gentleman of Philadelphia, who did not wish to go 

 beyond his own resources, yet anxious to bear a liberal portion of the 

 expense, proposed to send two ships to Africa to import into the South- 

 ern States a number of camels, and among their quaHties which he 



