450 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



eastern shore of Maryland. Whether from Ms flock or another — pre- 

 siimably, however, from Mr. Lloyd's, in May, 1813— two Merino lambs 

 were exhibited at Talbot on court day, the fleeces of which weighed 20J 

 and 18 J pounds. The lambs weighed 174 and 159 pounds, respectively. 

 The united fleeces sold for $78, or $2 per pound. 



There were some fine Merino flocks near Baltimore, but facts con- 

 cerning them are wanting. On May 26, 1814, a sale of 39 rams and 50 

 ewes took place on the farm of Samuel Gr. Jones, 3 miles from the city. 

 The sheep were represented as full-blooded Guadaloupes, Paulars, and 

 Negrettis, principally Paulars imported by E. Barry, and all in high 

 health, beautiful form, and fine fleece. The Paular and Gruadaloupe 

 ewes sold for $85 and $100; a ewe and lamb together at $125 to $190, 

 and rams from $50 to $100. 



Western Maryland has been formed by nature for sheep-raising, and 

 was the home of some superior flocks of long-wooled sheep. The Me- 

 rinos found their way there and were raised in considerable numbers, 

 not, however, so strictly in pure-blood as in crosses with the long- wools. 



Some crosses with the Arlington long- wool gave satisfactory results. 

 Washington County was the center of the flne-wooled husbandry and 

 maintained some fine flocks, one of which contained Escurials and Paul- 

 ars. This was owned by O. A. W. Stull, at Salubria, near Hagerstown, 

 and was offered at public sale September 3, 1814, when over 200 full 

 bloods, including 10 Escurial and 28 Paular rams, and some half bloods, 

 were disposed of at good prices to purchasers from the surrounding 

 country. A woolen factory at Hagerstown did much to encourage 

 full-blood sheep husbandry, and other establishments also aided in that 

 direction. As early as 1811 there were on the upper Potomac, in 

 Washington County alone, fourteen fulling mUls which annually passed 

 17,000 yards of cloth, eleven carding machines which passed 28,000 

 pounds of wool, and 132,000 yards of cloth were made in private fam- 

 ilies. Upon the failure of the woolen manufacture in the country, and 

 the subsequent suspension of the woolen mill at Hagerstown and allied 

 mills in various parts of the State, flne-wooled husbandry declined and 

 the course of other States was repeated — whole flocks disposed of to go 

 West to be slaughtered, or were converted into coarse-wooled mutton 

 sheep. The Meriuos rapidly disappeared from the State. 



In 1853 Mr. H. N. Andrews established a Merino sheep farm in Prince 

 George County, where he had that year about 1,000 Merinos of all 

 grades. He had been engaged some years in driving Merino sheep 

 from Vermont to Virginia, and finding it a profitable business estab- 

 lished this sheep farm, not only as an intermediate station and dis- 

 tributing point, but also to breed ft-om. Its existence was not long 

 maintained, but it scattered a few Merino sheep in that section of the 

 State. 



The older common breeds and the Merino have given way in turn to 

 the Leicesters, the Southdowns, the New Oxfordshires, and latterly 



