U2 
PAULAS. MERINOS.—NO. IV. 
looking personages, who have been so disturbed 
by my former remarks in your columns? So far 
as I can understand it, they are, without exception, 
interested persons, i. e. n»w-raisers, and ram-sel¬ 
lers, who are fearful lest their “ occupation will 
be gone,” or at least be rendered less profitable, 
by the exposure of these Paula r humbugs. Capa¬ 
ble and “ tonguey,” artful fellows, I do not doubt 
there are, among them, who will flutter and make 
some little, wordy bluster, for a time, about the 
matter. It would be strange, if they did not. But 
it will be all of no avail. They had far better be 
quiet, “ every mother’s son of them,” and this Mr. 
Jewett and his clerical friend, the Rev. Mr. 
Avery, in particular; for in truth, as a quaint old 
author hath it, their case is “like a foul bog, the 
more it is stirred, the worse it smells.” It will 
not bear probing to the bottom. In doing so, its 
odor does not sweeten, but savors strongly of the 
pocket, and of speculation on public credulity. In 
a word, the more the case is examined the worse 
it appears for them. Some among them will 
probably feel still worse than they now do, before 
we are through with the subject. If those people 
had known what was good for themselves, it 
seems to me they should have been as whist, and 
lain as close as quails. But you know the ancient 
saying, that “ those whom the gods have deter¬ 
mined to destroy, they first make mad.” 
I do not yet find that my remarks have offended 
any of the plain farmers and wool-growers, who 
are anxious to get at the truth. They, in their 
natural desire for improvement, were (till their 
eyes were opened) exposed to being misled and 
gulled by the catcli-pictures, and specious state¬ 
ments of this clique of Paular speculators, who 
publish the most taking and effective sort of ad¬ 
vertisements, which, though put forth in the form, 
and under the thin disguise of letters and “ commu¬ 
nications” “for the Albany Cultivator,” &c., &c., 
are in reality, usually from the adroit pens of these 
very owners and dealers themselves, who of course 
have an interest in trumpeting forth the wares 
(sometimes little better than worthless,) which 
they wish to sell. The Albany Cultivator, not to 
speak of other publications, has long teemed, and 
groaned (at least many of its readers have) with 
such things. I used to be caught with such baits 
and traps, myself. But I have grown older, if not 
wiser since. Is it not too bad, that we subscri¬ 
bers to agricultural publications, should be asked 
to pay for such worthless rubbish : like the man, 
in the story related by Dr. Franklin, who was 
invited to pay for heating the poker, which he 
would not allow to be used upon himself? 
But to my subject. Mr. Jewett complains in 
your October number, that I have spoken of his 
sheep as being “a very coarse breed.” He is 
mistaken; for the fact is, I do not consider them, 
and did not speak of them, as being of any breed, 
at all. In repeated instances, he himself speaks 
of them as “ a breed,” “ a variety,” as if they 
really were, or as if he wished them thought to 
be, pure bred sheep, belonging to some particular 
breed. In my former remarks about coarseness, 
I spoke more particularly of his boasted ram, and 
expressed the opinion that he was “not a genuine 
Paular, nor a pure bred Merino, of any sort.” But 
I would now take broader ground, and deny that 
Mr. J.’s flock is of any particular breed or race of 
Merinos. I do not believe that they, (his Pau- 
lars, so called,) are of any breed, in the common 
or proper sense of the word. I defy him to prove 
that they are. I challenge the proof. Come, Mr. 
Jewett, let us have it, so that the public may be 
able to judge. It is a pity that any injustice should 
be done your sheep, or any doubt rest on them, if 
their pure lineage can be shown and established. 
Why, Mr. Editor, I expected to have seen by this 
time, at least as large a quantity of affidavits, as 
could be contained in one of those “ milk bushels,” 
spoken of in your columns, not long since, by your 
entertaining and instructive Mississippi friend, Dr. 
Philips of Log Hall. However, for that matter, a 
cart-load of regular Vermont affidavits and certi¬ 
ficates, all sworn to, in due form, before a Justice 
of the Peace, would not have at all surprised me. 
Doubtless such evidence would be satisfactory to 
some persons, to all for instance, who are in the 
habit of reading and relying upon the mass of cer¬ 
tificates which usually accompany quack med¬ 
icines. Of course every one is at liberty to judge 
for himself. But on this subject, I am free to say, 
it would all amount to very little, in my estima¬ 
tion. Much of it, might be honestly intend¬ 
ed ; but still it would have little if any weight 
with me; for the simple reason, that, in my 
opinion, it could not he true. Now I hope 
you will not think me obstinate in my disbelief, 
nor uncharitable. It is in this case, only credulity, 
that is wanting. It is with me, (I confess it,) “ a 
foregone conclusion,”—but only because I have 
previously and long since, patiently and thoroughly 
examined the whole question, till I became satis¬ 
fied where the truth lay, as to there being, or not 
being, any of the pure old Merinos in the hands of 
these ram-selling speculators; or indeed what is 
more , any of the old Merino blood, left pure and 
undegenerate, in the whole country. 
I have before expressed my opinion on that sub¬ 
ject, very fully, in your columns, and it is not now 
necessary that I should repeat it, any further than 
to say, that those opinions and views were not 
hastily formed, nor without considerable opportu¬ 
nity for observation and knowledge of the subject; 
nor were they rashly put forth ; they were at least 
well considered, and I am now, upon more reflec¬ 
tion, prepared to affirm and defend them. 
Mr. Jewett assures us, in your last October No., 
that there is now existing in his county, “ one 
flock of 400 pure bred Paular Merino sheep, in the 
possession of a son, whose father purchased, some 
twenty years ago, direct from the importer, and 
these have never been adulterated by any other 
breed.” This, (if true,) is really an announce¬ 
ment worth making. You, Mr. Editor, must re¬ 
joice at it; and your wool-growingreaders, I doubt 
not, will all, with one accord, regard it as being 
a most interesting fact; that is, if it be a fact. 
To have been the occasion, the humble instru* 
ment, of eliciting and bringing out a piece of in* 
telligence so interesting and so truly important to 
the public, would not only afford me much ground 
for satisfaction, but be conclusive evidence of the 
