436 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



pleasure than profit, lie said, competing at many of the fairs and carrj^- 

 iiig away some of tlie prizes. In October, 1813, Mr. Ingham had a 

 choice flock, some of the best imported into Philadelphia, 3 rams and 

 33 ewes of which were then for sale. The Merinos were introduced into 

 Chester County in 1810, and in 1811 there were many flocks, among 

 which were those of John P. Steele, Jesse Evans, and Zeba Vickers. 



When beef fell from $10 to $6 per hundred in 1817, Caleb Church- 

 man, of Tinicum, considering it advisable to keep some sheep as an 

 appendage to his occupation as a grazier, commenced with 20 Merinos 

 to form a flock, and continued to iDurchase fine-wooled sheep and to dis- 

 pose of the coarse-wooled ones until in 1824, when he had over 1,000. 

 These did not average more than 50 to 60 pounds in weight, those with 

 the finest fleeces bein g the smallest. He made his selections with regard 

 to the quality of the wool, and found that the short-bodied small sheep 

 were the most hardy and possessed not only the finest but the heaviest 

 fleeces. The fleece averaged about 7 pounds of unwashed wool. 



Many Merino flocks were kept ui) for many years near Philadelphia 

 after they had ceased to be profitable. After 1815 the common and 

 mixed breeds of sheep were the most profitable to the grower, and 

 Leicester and other coarse-wooled rams were used in some flocks to con- 

 vert them into coarse-wooled sheep, but fortunately many Merinos were 

 sent to the western part of the State and to Ohio. Writing about 1824 

 John Hare Powell, of Philadelphia, said : , 



I have always considered that the introduction of Merinos was fortunate merely 

 as it gave the means of crossing various breeds of our native and imported sheep, 

 not in affording the material for clothes fitted but for the rich, and crooked ill- 

 flavored little carcasses, disdained even by the poor. The average weight of the 

 fleeces produced by the best Merino flocks, when made perfectly clean, seldom ex- 

 ceed 2^ pounds per head, which at 50 cents per pound, would equal but $1.25 each. 

 The weight of its carcass may fairly be stated at from 35 to 40 pounds. The bad 

 quality of the mutton, or its ill appearance upon the stall, or possibly some prejudice 

 existing against it in this country as in Spain, whence the animal was brought, 

 makes it less valuable for the shambles than the most common sheep bred upon the 

 worst-managed farms. If the market afford a test by which its value can be shown 

 it may be stated that no mutton is so little sought. 



Mr. Powell had just begun the importation of English sheep, and it 

 was natural that he should set in dark colors the picture of the Merino, 

 then at its lowest estimation in the country. It was speedily super- 

 seded by the improved Enghsh mutton breeds, and by 1840 was almost 

 unknown and forgotten on the farms where it formerly grazed to the 

 great delight and satisfaction of the owners. Their course ran as in 

 New Jersey and eastern and southern N^ew York. Many flocks found 

 homes in the expanding West, a few were neglected, but the greater 

 number were crossed by the Leicester and Southdown, and later by the 

 Cotswold. Wool-growing in the eastern part of the State was grad- 

 ually abandoned, and at the Pennsylvania State Fair, in 1852, not a 

 Spanish or Saxon Merino could be found on the ground from the coun- 



