EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVEU. 153 



bred upon the Clermont farm. This lamb was of the most uncommon size 

 and beauty; its fleece, compared with that of any other of his improved 

 sheep, or with any sample that he had been able to obtain of others, was 

 indisputably much finer, and at the same time so long and abundant as 

 to leave but little doubt of a yield of 8 pounds of wool the first shear- 

 ing. It actually yielded 9 pounds 6 ounces. The quality of the fleece 

 was compared to that of Lord Somerville's, of England, which was finer 

 from his Spanish Merino sheep than the wool brought from Spain into 

 England. It required 2 pounds of imported Spanish wool to make 1 

 yard of the finest British broadcloth ; from Lord Somerville's Spanish 

 flock 1 pound 9 ounces made a yard. Applying the same mode of de- 

 termination, Livingston's wool exceeded both the Spanish wool and the 

 Anglo-Spanish wool, since the same quantity of cloth was made at Cler- 

 mont by common country spinners and weavers from 1 pound 4 ounces 

 of Clermont Merino wool; and 32 J yards of 25 J inches wide were made 

 in Mr. Edward P. Livingston's family from 16f pounds of wool. 



We have noted that on April 8, 1808, through Livingston's influence 

 and efforts, the legislature of New York passed an act for the encour- 

 agement of raising and breeding Merino sheep. Two days before this 

 it had loaned $5,000 to enable George Booth to "extend and promote a 

 woolen manufactory" in the town of Poughkeepsie, and the same assist- 

 ance was extended to other parties to establish cotton mills and to spin 

 linen and hemp twine and yarn. 



On the 8th of April, 1808, the legislature thought the public interest 

 would be essentially promoted by the woolen manufactories in the State, 

 and enacted that the person who shoirld produce on or before the third 

 Tuesday of February, 1809, the best specimen of woolen cloth of uni- 

 form texture and quality, not less than 200 yards, manufactured in the 

 State, of a breadth not less than three-quarters of a yard, should be 

 awarded a premium of $150; the next best specimen, not less than 150 

 yards, to have $75, and the next best 100 yards $50. It was also 

 enacted that the person who should in his family manufacture within 

 any county in the State the best specimen of woolen cloth, not less than 

 30 yards, and three quarters wide, should receive $80. The Society for 

 the Promotion of Arts was to make the awards, and the law was to 

 remain in force three years. 



This act was amended on April 5, 1810, by requiring that the wool 

 used by the factories should be produced in the State, and that the 

 cloth made in the family should be from wool grown in the county, and 

 the judges of the county courts were to make the awards of the home 

 products. The law was also extended to February, 1812. 



On June 19, 1812, when the rapid increase of the woolen manufac- 

 tures and the great improvement in that branch of national industry 

 had fully and satisfactorUy demonstrated its usefulness, the legislature 

 considered it the part of wisdom that it be continued, and a new law 

 was passed similar to the one of 1808, to continue in force three years. 



