EAST OP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 235 



says it is due, however, to the Messrs. Seai-le to say that, as a whole, 

 their importations were much better than any other made into Boston. 

 Having determined to settle in the United States, Mr. Grove returned 

 to Saxony and spent the winter of 1826-'27 in visiting and examining 

 many flocks. He selected 115 from the celebrated flock of Macherns, 

 embarked onboard the sliip Albion, and lauded in New York June 27, 



1827. In 1828 he received 80 more selected by a friend from the same 

 Macherns flock and drove them to Shaftsbury, thence to Hoosic, N. Y., 

 where he established, and, until his death, maintained, one of the best, 

 if not the best. Saxony Merino flocks in the country. 



Other importations came in 1828. In June about 200, noted as the 

 best ever imported into Boston, arrived in the Bremen and were sold at 

 auction the month following. In August the Corsair arrived from 

 Hamburg ^\'ith 134 Saxony sheep, consigned to G. & T. Searle, and the 

 commercial editor of a Boston paper, noting the arrival, says: "It is 

 pleasant to believe that we may have a supply of the finest- wooled 

 breeds of sheep, but the coarsest wool, taxed by the late tariff, we hope 

 never will be grown in the United States, though the duty on it must 

 operate as a burden on the consumers of the coarsest cloths without a 

 corresponding benefit to any other persons." These sheep of Searle's — 

 48 rams and 85 ewes of the celebrated Macherns flock — were sold at 

 auction by Coolidge, Poor «& Head, October 14, 1828. 



Ou September 25, 1828, there arrived at ISTew York 25 rams and 112 

 ewes, characterized as Saxons of the purest blood. There were other 

 importations at other ports during the years 1824, 1825, 1826, 1827, and 



1828, and many after the last named date, which can not here be fol- 

 lowed, the simple object being in noting the importations of the five 

 years (1824-1828) to show that enough were brought over to change 

 the character of all the American flocks, should the mania affect all the 

 owners, which was, unfortunately, with few exceptions, the case; and 

 to mark its effect also upon the woolen manufacture. During these 

 years the recorded arrivals of Saxony sheep at the ports of Boston, ISTew 

 York, Portsmouth, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, principally at the two 

 first-named places, numbered 3,400; 77 in 1824; 164 in 1825; 2,288 in 

 1826; 398 in 1827, and 550 in 1828. 



The first appreciable effect that the introduction of the Saxony sheep 

 had was the further destruction of the old Spanish'Merino. The Spanish 

 flocks, with few exceptions, were crossed with the Saxony, and finally 

 almost disappeared. So near to practical extinction were they that 

 when it was found somewhat later that the Spanish Merino was the 

 most valuable for American purposes, but few flocks could be found 

 from which to renew the old blood, and these flocks comprised but few 

 animals. For a time aU other sheep were lost sight of and speculation 

 ruled the day. This speculation setin shortly after the passage of the 

 taritt' act of 1824 and the consequent increase in the woolen manufac- 

 ture, but it was a speculation of a losing kind, many of the importa- 



