214 SHEEP INDUSTRY OP THE UKITED STATES 



A few days after this, Febrnaiy 11, 1 ram and 1 ewe, described as 

 Escurials and warranted full-blooded, were advertised at Savannali as 

 just received from Kew York and for sale. There is no further record 

 of them, but it is scarcely probable that they were Escurials. 



The sheep consigned to James Johnson, Oliver Sturgess, and A. 

 Eichards & Co., arriving at Savannah by the Eagle on May 16, 1811, 

 were advertised in the Savannah papers for some time and sold slowly. 

 Two hundred and nineteen, consigned to G-eorge Scott, arrived on May 

 31, and on June 4 Mr. Scott advertised for sale 40 rams and 100 ewes 

 of the Escurial and l!?"egretti breeds, and added that if not sold by July 

 1 they would be sent northward. Some were sold at very low prices, 

 and on June 14 10 rams and 30 ewes were put up at auction. Mr. Scott 

 did not dispose of all his sheep, and late in July shipped the remainder 

 to Adams & Wood, Boston, Mass. 



The importations of 1810 and 1811 gave the United States nearly 

 20,000 Merino sheep, some of the choicest of Spain, in addition to those 

 descended from the previous importations of Dupont, Adams, Living- 

 ston, Humphreys, Mease, and MuUer, and it is reasonable to believe 

 that with few exceptions they were pure-blooded, for as stated else- 

 where all restrictions on their exportation had been removed. There 

 was no great difdculty in obtaining them; the best breeds could be" 

 purchased by any one so choosing as readily as those of inferior quality, 

 and as thousands were being slaughtered and eaten by the armies oper- 

 ating in Spain and Portugal it is reasonable to suppose that they could 

 be bought cheap from those who were compelled to withdraw into the 

 restricted military lines around Lisbon and Cadiz. There were, however, 

 reasons personal and political why certain parties and some men of 

 commanding influence discouraged the importation of these sheep and 

 sought to give them a bad name, coinciding very nearly in expression 

 with some English jDapers of 1809 and 1810, in deriding our infant man- 

 ufactures and our Merino sheep. 



The hostile attitude of England in 1811, and the breaking out of hos- 

 tilities in 1812, checked further importation, and but few Merinos were 

 imported from Spain to the United States. Some there were, but not 

 of sufficient importance to note. Two, however, from the variety of the 

 cargo in one vessel and the prices realized for the sheep in the other we 

 give. On AprU 19, 1814, a Portuguese ship arrived at Boston with au 

 assorted cargo of Merino wool, salt, raisins, curi^ants, hardware, teas, 

 Jesuit's bark, etc., and 44 Merino sheep — 36 had been lost on the passage. 

 At a sale of Merino sheep at Boston, May 26, 1814, just imported in the 

 Don Quixote from Lisbon, 30 full-blooded Escurial rams and 200 full- 

 blooded Escurial ewes and 4 ram lambs brought not less than $100 each 

 and most of them $150 each. 



There was but little or no incentive to make importations after 1814, 

 and the close of the war with England, the collapse of the manufactur- 

 ing interest, and the low prices to which the Merinos fell, and the fact 



