184 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



every second clay. The shep- 

 herds stay night and day with 

 their flocks in the open air, 

 the dogs keeping watch out- 

 side the hurdles against wild 

 animals. In the morning each 

 shepherd takes out his troop 

 and leads it to the pasturage 

 appointed for it. The Merino 

 was first brought to the 

 United States in 1801, be- 

 tween which date and 18 12 

 large numbers, probably as 

 many as twenty thousand, 

 were landed and scattered 

 chiefly through New England, 

 the Atlantic states, and Ohio. 

 Conspicuous in these importa- 

 tions were David Humphreys, 

 chiefly to the Alps, where the sheep that spend Minister to Spain; Chancellor Livingston, Min- 

 the winters near the mouths of the Rhone and ister to France ; and William Jarvis, Consul to 

 along the banks of the Crau are congregated Portugal. These gentlemen, mindful of the ini- 

 in summer. On the plains of the Crau they are portance of the sheep industry in the United 

 ne\er put intf) sheepcots except at shearing States at the time, which called for wool of 

 time. At night the)' are kept in inclosures fine quality and fine fiber, carefully examined 

 made with hiu'dles of willow branches, renewed the sheep in these countries, and, being satisfied 



.SiiI';f,i' ox TiiF. Swiss ,\lps 



Spanish Sheep 



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