202 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



tados. Wbon tlie Heaton importation was sold there was one particular ram that I 

 wanted. He was unlike the others; he had a peculiar fleece. Several wanted him. 

 He was sold when some of us were away getting something to eat. Daniel Bacon, 

 of Woodbury, got him. I afterwards got two rams of his get, but I never owned 

 that identical ram. 



We have introduced this statement of Mr. Blakeslee to show, by 

 cumulative facts, that the sheep imported by the Ceres were Tnfauta- 

 dos, but Mr. Blakeslee was in error in that part of his statement where 

 he said that the Heaton importation had also the Infantado brand, for 

 that importation was from Lisbon and consisted of Guadaloupes antl 

 Ne^rettis. 



The Heaton importation here spoken of consisted of 30 Guadaloupes 

 and 12 Negrettis shipped from Lisbon by one of Heatou's agents. Mr. 

 Heaton says that the sheep were smuggled into Portugal, and that he 

 knew that one-half of them were of the Guadaloupe breed, " considered 

 in Spain superior to any other breed of sheep raised there," and, con- 

 tinues Mr. Heaton, "there has not been any breed of sheep imported 

 that compared with the Guadaloupe breed." The sheej) came on the 

 Bellona and arrived at New York December 31, 1810, forty-two days 

 from Lisbon, consigned to J. & E. Townsend, and thence the vessel 

 sailed to New Haven, where it arrived January 3, 1811. At New York 

 the number of sheep reported was 50; at New Haven, 43, consigned to 

 Abraham Heaton and others. The following advertisement will exijlain 

 from whence they came and some other particulars. It is from the Con- 

 necticut Journal of January 10, 1811 : 



To be sold at auction, in this city (New Haven), on the 17th instant, January 

 1811), 42 Merino sheep, imported in the brig Bellona, from Lisbon. Thirty of these 

 sheep are the improved breed ; the most unquestionable documeuts accompany them, 

 proving them to be of unmixed race of Leonese Merinos, of the flock termed Guada- 

 loupe. They were purchased of the prior of the royal monastery of Guadaloupe, in 

 Spain, and warranted genuine. » » * xhe remaining 12 are of the Nogretti 

 breed, with certificates attesting their genuineness. 



The sale was well attended and much anxiety was shown for the 

 possession of a remarkable ram, so remarkable, indeed, that Mr. Hea- 

 ton, writing in 1864, said of hiin : " His size and form were so superior 

 I almost see him standing before me now. His fleece was uncommonly 

 large, and admitted to be finer than any other wool that had been seen 

 in this country." This Guadaloupe ram was sold to Daniel Bacon for 

 $350 or $275, after a sharp competition. In Mr. Bacon's hands he 

 became celebrated as a very superior stock ram, and afterwards 

 obtained a wide notoriety as the improver of many flocks. Subse- 

 quently Mr. Bacon sold this ram to W. E. Lampson for $1,300, and he 

 added his blood to the Atwood strain of Merinos. 



From the Infantado importation by the Ceres and the Guadaloupe 

 and Negretti importation by the Bellona sprung the flock of Jacob N. 

 Blakeslee, and some others in Connecticut. Some of both importa- 

 tions he took upon, shares, some from Mr. Peck and Mr. Woodward 



