496 SHEEP 



For this importation Colonel Humphreys was granted a gold 

 medaU These Humphreys Merinos became important American 

 foundation stock, to which a number of families ,directly trace. In 

 the spring of 1 802 Robert Livingston, minister to France, sent 

 4 head of Merinos of French breeding to New York. In 1805 

 Livingston returned to America and began breeding pure and 

 grade Merinos. He was very successful in his breeding, and his 



Fig. 221. An American Merino ram shown at the Pan-American Exposition in 



igoi by H. D. Jackson of Bridport, Vermont. This ram was first-prize yeariing 



and the champion ram of the Class A type. From photograph, by courtesy of 



the National Stockman and Farmer 



sheep attracted wide attention and brought high prices. He had 

 great social influence and was a famous politician, so that he induced 

 many to take up sheep husbandry. In 1809 he wrote an " Essay 

 on Sheep," which was ordered printed by the New York legisla- 

 ture. Through his influence the legislature also passed an act in 

 1808 to encourage raising and breeding Merinos. In 1809— 18 10 

 William Jarvis of Vermont, United States consul at Lisbon, 

 Portugal, shipped at different times a total of about 4000 Spanish 

 Merinos, of which 1500 came to New York, 1000 to Boston and 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



