OTHEE MEEINO FAMILIES. 33 



is their adaptation to thin, scant herbage, and to theii' qualities 

 as "working flocks." They demand no extra oare or keep 

 to develop their qualities, are always lively and alert; and 

 though gentle and perfectly free from restlessness of temperar 

 ment, they are ready to rove far and near to obtain their food. 

 And for all they consume they make the most ample returns. 

 WhUe they will pay for care, they will thrive with but little 

 care. In a word, they remain, par excellence, the negligent 

 farmer's sheep. 



The ewe, the portrait of which is given on page 31, is a 

 three year old of this family, and is one of a small nmnber of 

 equal appearance and excellence, which I bought of the Messrs. 

 Rich a year since. Her second fleece, when she was not so 

 large as a high-kept yearling, and when she had not been 

 housed before autumn, weighed 10 lbs. unwashed. Having 

 bred both these and the Infantados for years, and being now 

 about equally interested in both the improved families, I trust 

 I can speak of them with impartiality; and I may here add 

 that I also described Mr. Jarvis' sheep on ample personal 

 experience.* 



s 



Othee Meein-o Families. — There were in 1840, a few 

 small Merino flocks descended from pure Spanish importations, 

 and derived from other sources than the foregoing, scattered 

 very thinly through the States lying west of N"ew England. 

 Like the best Infantados and Paulars of that day, some of them 

 averaged about 4J lbs. of washed wool to the fleece. I have 

 been unable to obtain any authentic portraits of known 

 Infantados or Paidars of that period. The drawing from 

 which the cut given on the following page was taken, was 

 made in 1840, by Francis Rotch, Esq., of Morris, (then 'called 

 Louisville,) N. Y., one of the most eminent and skiUful cattle 

 and sheep breeders in the United States, and remarkable then 

 as since for the accuracy and spirit of his drawings of animals. 

 The cut is a ewe of his own flock of thirty breeding ewes, 

 which had been selected with much care from different flocks 

 in New England ; and this one was then regarded as a model. 

 She is rounder in the rib, broader and rounder in the thigh 

 and fuller in the brisket than was coinmon among the Merinos 

 of that day. The illustration wiU show the changes which 



* The account whicli I have given of the characteristics, &c., of these families 20 

 years ago, was submitted, in substantially the same form, to some of the most 

 prominent present breeders of 'each variety, including Mr. Hammond and Mr. Kicb, 

 preparatory to its publication in my Report on Pine-Wool Husbandry in 1862, and It 

 received their unanimous concurrence. See that Beport, p. S3. 

 2* 



