EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 533 



tioned with a Spanish Merino ram bred by Edwin Hammond, of Vermont. 

 After this he made his crosses entirely with Spanisli Merinos, making 

 his grade flock run three-fourths Spanisli Merino, one-sixteenth Saxon, 

 with the remaining three-sixteenths Silesian. This cross brought the 

 weight of his fleeces up to 5J pounds in 1861, making an increase of 2J 

 pounds per fleece in eight years, and he had hopes of reaching 7 pounds 

 by 1865. Besides this Mr. Eagleson had a thoroughbred flock of pure 

 Atwood Spanish Merino blood, bred by Hammond and others of Ver- 

 mont. Of this variety he had 150 ewes, which averaged 6 J pounds. 



The early flocks of Guernsey County were like those of the neigh- 

 boring counties : first, the common sheep crossed by the Dickinson 

 Merino, then the Saxon, and finally the Spanish Merino, as represented 

 by the Vermont variety. But few records are available concerning 

 these early days. E. H. Wilson began his flock about 1840, with the 

 flnewooled sheep of western Virginia, probable descend ents in great 

 part of the Wells and Dickinson flocks. About 1845 he procured rams 

 from Henry D. Grove's pure Saxon flock, and used them three or four 

 years. Next he used Saxon rams bred by Dr. Chapline, and in 1854 

 bought a pure Silesian ram and used him two seasons. In 1856 he sold 

 his sheep and began again soon after to breed from some Silesians and 

 some ewes bred direct from the flock of William Brownlee, of Wash- 

 ington County, Pa. Then he introduced Silesian Spanish, bought of 

 William Chamberlain, of New York, and an American Merino bought 

 of George Campbell, of Vermont. Both were heavy -wooled sheep, and 

 his clip of 1861 averaged 3f pounds, but was too fine for the prevailing 

 market. He had that year over 300 sheep. John Moore, of this county, 

 had an earlier flock, founded in 1832 from a purchase made of William 

 Brownlee, of Washington County, Pa., and he had the same stock of 

 ewes in 1861, with a cross by a ram of the Atwood stock, obtained from 

 Judge McKeever, of western Pennsylvania. These flocks represent the 

 character of the Merinos of Guernsey County: the Wells and Dickin- 

 son sheep ; Saxons, Silesians, and their crosses from western Virginia 

 and Pennsylvania, and thoroughbred Spanish Merinos from Vermont. 



Noble and Washington counties, in the lower part of the Muskingum 

 Valley, have not been noted as large fine-wool-growing counties. Their 

 early sheep were of the common kind and their improvement was of 

 slow growth. An early Washington flock was that of Col. John Stone, 

 of Belpre, founded in 1826, by pure Merinos from the Wells flock and 

 kept pure for over half a century. 



The first Spanish Merino sheep of Muskingum County were those of 

 the Wells and Dickinson flocks and some from Washington County, Pa. 

 These, however, were soon supplanted by the many Saxony crosses, and 

 not untU 1850 did the Spanish Merino regain favor, since which time a 

 majority of the best sheep in the county trace their descent from 100 

 Jarvis ewes, brought from Vermont by Barnum Sanford, who settled 

 near Newark, Licking County, in 1852, bringing the 100 ewes and 2 

 rams. The descendants of these ewes, crossed by Atwood rams, were 



