EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 295 



r m At wood, bred by Stephen At wood in 1842, and elsewhere described. 

 At the same time that he purchased the ram he also bought 2 ewes of 

 Mr. C. B. Cook that were descended from ewes Mr. Cook had purchased 

 *" f Mr. Atwood. Soon after more ewes were purchased of Mr. Cook, 

 and in 1846 3 ewes were purchased of W. S. & E. Hammond that came 

 fiom the flock of Stephen Atwood. In 1847 Mr. Elitharp and Mr. Cook 

 made a purchase of ewes of Stephen Atwood and his son Chauncey, 

 and upon his part of this purchase Mr. Elitharp used his ram Atwood 

 until he died in 1850. In 1863 the portion of this flock tliat combined 

 the blood of the Cock, Jarvis, and Humphreys flocks was sold. In 

 1873 Mr. Elitharp finally disposed of all his flock, selling the last 10 

 that he had reserved to Otis P. Lee, of Middlebury, Vt., and additions 

 to Atwood blood have been made to it and the flock preserved to the 

 present day. Mr. Elitharp was considered one of the very best judges 

 of sheep of his time, a breeder of excellent judgment, and succeeded 

 in making great improvements in his flock. Ewes of his breeding were 

 in good demand and seldom disappointed the exj)ectations of their 

 purchasers. He also produced some rams of note. 



Elitharp was bred by him in 1845; his sire was Atwood and his dam 

 was sired by Black Hawk; second dam bred by William Jarvis, being 

 thus of Atwood, Jarvis, and Cock blood. This ram was sold to Eras- 

 tus R. Eobinson, and used by him as a stock ram and was the sire of 

 the famous old llobinson ram. From the Atwood blood of the flock he 

 bred the Elitharp and Burwell ram, sired by Eureka, and bred in 1868. 

 This ram was sold in 1871 to H. C. Burwell and by him in 1872 to Peet 

 & Severance, and by them taken to California. This ram weighed in 

 full fleece 160 pounds, and was well proportioned and very symmetri- 

 cal in outline and finish. He was a straight level-topped sheep, run- 

 ning out high and broad at ramp and tail, his back and loin also good 

 and strong. He was well arched in rib and had good depth of carcass . 

 neck short and long head, and nose well-shaped and attractive. He 

 was well wrinkled at neck, hip, tail, flank, and at point of shoulder. 

 He was very dark colored at tip of wool, and carried a very dense, 

 attractive, even, and highly crimpled fleece of wool, which opened in 

 flakes. He was well covered all around; especially good at head and 

 legs. The weight of his fleece was 27 pounds; the staple was 2J inches 

 long. Green Mountain, sired by Golden Fleece and bred in 1864, was 

 sold by Mr. Elitharp to H. Hemmenway, Whitewater, Wis. 



Another Atwood flock was that of N, A. Saxton, Waltham, Vt. The 

 foundation of this flock was commenced about 1847 by a small purchase 

 of ewes from W. S. and E. Hammond. Mr. Saxton bred these and 

 their produce to Hammond rams and those of W. E. Sanford, as well 

 as those bred in his own flock, until 1872, when he used the stock rams 

 of O. C. Bacon. Mr. Saxton died in 1874 and the flock was widely dis- 

 persed. Two of his good stock rams may be mentioned — the Saxton 



