474 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



society. Having nine or ten years ago procured a pair of this breed, ttey seem to 

 fatten easier than the common sheep ; and the wool is very superior in quality and 

 quantity. What must enhance their value much, their .wool does not fall oif, and 

 this marked distinction from the common breed shows itself even in the three- 

 eighth blood. My breed of sheep having lately been further improved by a ram of 

 this blood, presented me by a relative (William Bellinger, of Lemmon Island), it 

 will afford me pleasure to extend the breed further than I have done, by exchanging 

 stock. I have now some excellent cloth made with wool sent to Newport, E. I., 

 five years since ; it proved sound and good quality. 



There were a few fine flocks in the State, among them that of Wade 

 Hampton, father of the recent United States Senator of the same 

 name. The records of these flocks are not preserved, and for causes 

 operating here as in Virginia, mostly political, the Merino did not gain 

 an aggressive foothold. 



Efforts, however, were made from time to time to stimulate an in- 

 terest in them, and the letters of Henry S. Eandall, in 1847, discussed 

 the whole subject of sheep husbandry in the South and called particu- 

 lar attention to the mountain region in the western part of the State as 

 favorable to the Merino, where large numbers could subsist during the 

 entire winter on the hardy wild herbage which continues green in the 

 forests and on some lowlands. Climatic conditions were favorable, the 

 cost of raising them was very small, and Mr. Eandall set forth with 

 much minuteness how a flock of common sheep could be graded up to 

 high-class sheep of the Merino breed, the management of a flock, the 

 probable market for wool, and other facts necessary for the wool-grower 

 to know. About the same time a report was made to the agricultural 

 society of Pendleton, stating that as far as latitude was concerned 

 experiments had been made both north and south of that place which 

 proved that the Spanish Merino wool neither degenerated in quality 

 nor quantity of fleece. A flock was known in Chester County in 1844 

 that had been kept for thirty years and shown no diminution of fleece. 

 They were a cross of Escurial and Guadaloupe and had been bred in- 

 and-in during the entire period. In 1845 a flock was owned by B. P. 

 Taylor, near Columbia. 



In 1850, in almost every part of the State, nearly every farmer had a 

 small flock of sheep to supply wool for winter clothing; for any other 

 purpose they were not raised, except to a limited extent near Charles- 

 ton. People would not eat mutton, consequently sheep were raised only 

 for wool for domestic use. There were some small flocks of grade Merinos 

 and in Chester County, in 1850, W. S. Gibbs raised some full-blooded, 

 quite as fine as his original Escurial stock, but the full-blooded wool 

 was too fine for farmer's use. For twenty years he raised as fine wool 

 as was raised at any place north, judging from comparison of samples. 

 In 1854 the Charleston Mercury announced that the experiment of rear- 

 ing fine breeds of sheep for wool in the upper part of the State prom- 

 ised complete success. 



It was generally admitted that the Merino sheep could be grown with 



