EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 169 



poses, altliougli carrying nearly as fine wool as he ever saw, Dr. Mease 

 was indneed to kill tliem. His last full-blood ram lamb was killed in 

 July, 1809, for fear tliat lie would begin to exercise bis powers among 

 the ewes. He was out of his own imported black ewe, by Col. Hum- 

 phreys' full-blooded white ram. The mutton of this ram was excellent, 

 like that from the Welsh sheep. 



In the fall of 1808 Dr. Mease added 16 half-blood Dishleys or New 

 Leicesters and crossed them with his new acquisition, by Avhich the 

 form of the progeny was improved. A shorter- wooled sheep would 

 have been preferred, but all distinctions of sheep in that section of the 

 country had been lost and the forms of the drove sheep were very infe- 

 rior. He took his chances as to the result of the cross on the working 

 quality of the wool and made sure of improving the form. The flock 

 soon partook of the quality of the Leicester sheep. Leicester rams were 

 introduced into it and the black Spanish Merino blood eliminated. 



Although Dr. Mease bred them assiduously for a few years, it is not 

 known that any one bought them. In November, 1808, he advertised 

 a few half-blood Merino rams for sale. Their color was not given. 

 Somewhat later than this there were fifteen black Merino rams, 

 "selected from the best flocks in Spain," advertised in one lot for sale 

 in Boston. Dr. Mease bred from the Humphreys sheep also, and it 

 was from him that the first Merino ram introduced in South Carolina 

 was purchased early in 1808. 



In 1807 Dittmar Basse Muller, formerly of Germany, then of Phila- 

 delphia, imported 6 Merino sheep from the flock of the Prince of 

 Hesse Cassel. These sheep were all remarkably fine animals, and, at 

 Muller's request, James Caldwell took them to his farm at Haddon- 

 field, near Philadelphia, and kept them until they recovered from the 

 effects of the voyage and were in proper condition to travel. Caldwell 

 purchased one of the rams, for which he paid $100, to replace one he 

 had bought of Col. Humphreys in 1806, but which had died, and bred 

 him to the two Merino ewes, also purchased from Col. Humphreys with 

 the ram in the fall of 1806. Mr. Caldwell, writing nearly twenty years 

 after this, had every reason to believe that the sheep imported by 

 Muller were pure Merinos. The descendants of Muller's ram and the 

 Humphreys ewes were fine animals, and some of them became justly 

 celebrated. Columbus, the first ram descendant, when 2 years old, in 

 the spring or early summer of 1810, sheared 9 pounds of wool, and 

 weighed, after being shorn, 145 pounds, and Columbia, the first female 

 descendant, at the same age and at the same time, sheared 7 pounds 9 

 ounces. A yearling ram, Spaniola, sheared at the same time 12 pounds 

 of washed wool, and his weight after being shorn was 142 pounds. The 

 paper recording these facts makes the further statement that— 



Columljus, Columbia, and Spauiola are pure Merino descendants of the finest 

 flocks in Spain; the sire was selected from tlie Prince of Hesse Cassel's flock, that 

 had been a present from the King of Spain, and the ewos imported by Col. Hum- 

 phreys while minister to that country. 



