AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
FOR THE 
iTarm, GrardLen, and. Honseliold. 
“AGKICCtTUEE IS THE MOST HEALTUPCt, MOST USEFUL, ANU MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OP MAN.”-WiBBiH(jTO* 
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Entered according to act of Congress in October, 1866, by Oeanqb JtrDD & Co, in the Clerk’s Office of the Hjgtrict Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-Tork. 
VOLTOIE XXV—No. 11. 
NEW-YORK, NOVEMBER, 1866. 
NEW SERIES—No. 238. 
We selectea this ram as best representing his 
breed of any at tiie New Engiand and Vermont 
Fair at Brattleboro, and our artist produced, in 
our view, an admirable portrait. Golden Fleece 
is 4 years old, and was this year winner of the 
sweepstakes prize as the best merino ram of any 
age on the ground, and of the 1st prize in his 
own class, (Rams 3 years old and over.) His 
fleece, this year, (unwashed of course) weighed 
26‘la lbs. j that of 1865 weighed 26*14 lbs.; it 
would he Interesting to give the weiglit of 
cleansed wool, hut we cannot. The excellence 
of the animal may be judged by the fact that 
the flock of which he is the leader, and to a 
considerable extent the sire, bore off 6 first and 
3 second prizes, besides the 2 sweepstakes prizes 
at the above named fair. He exhibits remark¬ 
ably the compactness, solidity and depth of car¬ 
cass, with the desirable shortness of legs, which 
are well wooled down, the full dewlap with the 
abundant wrinkles and folds of the Vermonters, 
together with the astonishing oilyncss of fleece. 
Such animals are held at wonderfully Iiigh 
prices,—$5,000 to $15,000. The latter price 
has, we learn, been refused for Golden Fleece. 
This breed, the American Merino, originated 
from the careful breeding, for many years, of 
Spanish Merino sheep by Stephen Atwood, of 
Conn., and subsequently by Edwin Hammond, 
of Vermont, and is now widely disseminated* 
