EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 159 



of fine wool so much as to supersede the necessity of importations for their manufac- 

 tures. The importance of an internal supply of the first articles of necessity appears 

 to be more understood and acknowledged every day hy every civilized nation in the 

 world. It may be asked, How long are we to continue thus like colonies dependent 

 on a mother country? And will a period never arrive when it will be indispensable 

 to clothe ourselves principally with our own productions and fabrics? 



It is true in the New England and ueighboring States much has boon done in fami- 

 lies towards providing and preparing their own clothing. No real patriot can behold 

 without feeling unusual emotions of pleasure the employment of the wool cards, the 

 spinning-wheel, and the domestic looms in those nurseries of mauufactures. From the 

 manner in which this portion of the country is filled with inhabitants, and the habits 

 of occupatiou which they acquire from their infancy, I shall not perhaps be too bold 

 in predicting that they will soon make a progress which will surpass all calculaticm 

 hitherto formed. Wo have the materials and dispositions. Destitute of the great 

 sources of riches which, as it were, inundate our brethren in the South, on industry 

 and economy in farming, Jisbing, navigating, and manufacturing, must we, in this 

 part of the Union, depend under Providence foroiir prosperity. Whoever, then, can 

 add occasions and motives for the practice of industry and economy can not fail to 

 be a benefactor. And need any of our farmers despair of being able to produce Iavo 

 fleeces of wool where ouly one wan produced? The more unequal division of landed 

 projierty in the .S<iuthcrn States, and the greater profits to be derived from the rich 

 crops of whe;it, rice, tobacco, and cotton will naturally tend, for some time at least, 

 to retard the manufacturiug business; yet I am happy to learn that in the interior 

 districts of those States many excellent articles of clothing are fabricated in the house- 

 hold way. 



Mr. Livingston has been quoted in his description of the Merino 

 sheep as he saw them, and we quote the appearance of the same breed 

 as Col. Humphreys saw them, remarking- that they were described in 

 1803, and, presumably, under his eye on his farm in Connecticut. The 

 description may be taken as that of the Humphreys flock : 



The height of the male is about the same as that of the ordinary breed in this 

 country; the head appeals rather bigger and straighter; the ears are very small ; 

 the eyes remarkably bright; the horus curved in a spiral turn; the neck short; the 

 chest broad ; the members more compact and thick than those of our former breed of 

 sheep, and the carcass is thought to have smaller hones, and to be more rounded in 

 the hinder part; the body, face, and legs are covered with a delicate fleece, which 

 grows amazingly thick, without any mixture of coarser locks or hairs; the fleece is 

 remarked to be much more impregnated than that of any other breed, with an oily 

 substance, apparently exuded in perspiration. This animal is perfectly gentle, but 

 quick, firm, and regular in all his movements. The female is considered, generally, 

 as having the more characteristics of the pure blood, in proportion as she approxi- 

 mates to this description, yet the owes are commonly destitute of horns, as is the 

 case with those of my little flock. That flock, consisting of 21 rams and 70 ewes, has 

 probably seldom, if ever, been surpassed by any extracted from the southern penin- 

 sula of Europe for the fine, soft, silky, strong, supple, and elastic qualities of the 

 wool.* 



Mr. Henry S. Eandall says that he was placed in possession of sev- 

 eral letters of Col. Humphreys, speciaUy on the subject of sheep, ad- 

 dressed to differeut correspondents, and not one of them mentioned or 

 alluded to the subject of the cabanas fi'om which his Merinos were se- 

 lected, but that in one communication he thought it worthy of state- 



• Miscellaneous works of David Humphreys. 



