5o8 SHEEP 



France, Italy, Austria, Russia, and Germany being represented. 

 The 12 sheep shown by Mr. Campbell were the only ones from 

 the United States, and these took three premiums, two firsts 

 and one second, one first being for length of staple and one for 

 weight of fleece. These prize sheep were later sold to Count 

 Shen Thors of Silesia for ^5000. This was a great testimonial to 

 the superiority of American Merinos. 



Remarkable prices for Merino sheep have been paid on many 

 occasions, dating back over a century. In 1808 James Wadsworth 

 paid Colonel Humphreys $1000 for a ram, and in March, 18 10, 

 the latter sold 2 rams and 2 ewes to a Kentucky buyer for ^6000. 

 This year (18 10) there was a Merino mania on, and many 

 sheep changed hands at phenomenal prices. On September 22, 

 18 10, an auction of 215 Paular Merinos at F. B. Winthrop's, 

 Home's Neck, New York, brought ^57,000, an average of ^265 

 each. Many thousand Merinos were imported in 18 10 and 181 1 

 and were largely sold at auction, bringing abnormally high prices. 

 Then came a collapse, and Merinos were sold for a song. Again, 

 in the early sixties, high prices prevailed, and many sheep sold 

 at thousands of dollars each. In recent years the American 

 Merino has not brought prices of special note in comparison with 

 those of early days. In Australasia the highest prices paid for 

 sheep of any kind have been paid for rams of this breed. The 

 following prices are conversions from British guineas into 

 American dollars. The ram President, one of the most noted 

 animals in Australian flock history, sold for ^8000, and several 

 of his sons sold for ^5000 each. The following rams also sold 

 in Australia for the given prices : Sir Thomas, ^3400 ; Sir Thomas, 

 2d, $2020; Golden Horn, ^2800; Golden Horn 2d, ^3150; 

 Golden Tom, $2500. At the annual stud-sheep sales at Sydney 

 in July, 1910, the ram Dandle Dinmont brought ^7812. In 1915 

 the Bundemar estate, Trangie, New South Wales, sold the 

 two-year-old ram Lord Charles for 1 10,000 to go to South 

 Australia. This ram was bred in the famous Wanganella flock, 

 from which many great stud sheep have come. It is said that 

 the progeny of the sire of Lord Charles have already brought 

 ^50,000. Five of his ewes brought $Soo each. As a culmination 

 of high prices, at the Sydney ram sales in July, 19 18, a ram bred 



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