Litchfield enquirer., 1844-09-12

Mn. ErzoA s-I discovered in the April number of the Cultiyator letter written by w. Jarvis, give
 ing description of the importation ua Spanish Me rino sheep into this country. tn 1909. He seems to doubt that there is any pure blooded Merin0 sheep in the country at the present time but whst are m his possession. The duty which owe my self and my neighbOTs, requires me to give dcs- criptlon of some pure blOods that are the offspring ot some of the first that ever came into the United States, brought into the country by David Hum phrey m lSO2, which were present to his wife by her father, as she was Spanish lady. Affer a feyv years two pairs of them were purchased by Daniel Bacon, of Woodbury, Litch6eld co. They were kept in their pure state till 1911. There was then an importation ot the Ga0daloope sheep by a com pany formed m Litchfeld CO.,, John DeForest, su- peEcargo They arrived at New Haven, and were sold at auction, Jan II, 1911. There was one full biooded escurlal buck, which was purchased by Dansel Bacon at $27S, and was crossed upon those sheep that came by the way of Mrs Humphrey He continued this cross till 1916 or TT. when he sold his escurial buck to William R. Lampson for $1l3O. He kept his sheep pure till the introduc- tion of Saxony sheep. He then sold the remainder of his flock to Daniel Martin. began flock of sheep m 1915, that were imported by Peck & At water, New Haven. A part of them were the Ne gretter, and part Montarco. let them run to- gether till 1923. then procured the use of buck for three seasons, bred by Daniel Bacon from his
 
 of the stock from this buck, was four pounds, and the wool brought me ten cents in a pound more than the original stock. In 1928 purchased abuck that was raised by Daniel Bacon. From that time down to the present have kept that blood pure ;- thls flock IS now cross of three sorts of Spanish sheep, and perfectly clear from native or Saxony blood. My farm is not a healthy farm for sheen, and of course they are a little under size. They are a full, round, handsome bodied sheep, with shortish legs and very round neck. They have very heavy hceces for their size Their wool is a long staple, great deal of crimp, and very com pact at the outer end. They have generally wool about their face and their legs down to their feet Alter taking great pains to wash them the average weight ot thelr heeces this wasthree pounds and half, and there very few aocks of Saxony sheep any finer. MT. Samuel Lawrence of Lowell, who has had this wool for four seasons past, has given his opinion that there is no Merino wool that compares with it. This improvement has been made by cross of the different breeds. am de- cldedly ofthe opinion that there is no full blood an lma equal to cross; the reason give Is that there no perfect animal on the face of this carth where an animal Is imperfect, you can never remedy the defect by the use of an animal that has the same defect. The SaXony sheep are defective in the quantity of wool: in our cold climate the outer end becomes dead and destitute of felting properties me spanish breeds spoken of are free from both these defects, and wherever those bucks have been crossed upon high blood Saxons, there has been an addition of o24 ounces to each fleece, and when- ever it has been through the process of stapng it has brought, at least, cents more on pound. have often heard the qucsti ion asked why new wool would not felt like wool that had lain year. I believe it the wool growers had taken as much pains to improve upon the Merno as they have np- on the Saxony, that question never would hove been asked Almost the whole of the fine goods that are now made are made iron, Saxony wool that has a dead end. very tender when new, and destitute of felting properties; after lying in the native oil one year it becomes rotten that it wastes in the ma chinery before it comes to the fctins process. As there is more native oil in the fine Merino wool, it has been the cause of some complaint by our manufacturers that it wastes too much in cleansing If they would weigh both kinds of wool in the fleece, and then weigh the goods when finished, they would find the Saxony wool would waste as much as the Merino J. N. BLAKEsLEE, Watertown.