Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1857-05-08

Is not fourteen. Do you wonder, MIR. Pre-
sldent, why they would not introduce IN
ADOPT the merino breed of sheep in England
r tou can see at once why it was so. Ate
the utmost exertions for some thirty year
IN trying to do this, and succeeding not n
all, finally the royal flock of fine wool sheel
was sold Mt auction | have seen the &C
count OF those sales in the Library Of Con
gress, showing to whom each sheep wa
sold, and how much it was sold for.
While this business was going on il
haglanl with this want of success, in sax
ony they had attended to that family o
sheep which came to the Elector Of Saxony
ana had bred in entirely, with regard tC
llnencss of the wool. They had shepherded
them on the fields and plains Of Germany
anu bred them, in fine, by selecting the
llnest all the time, without regard to size
he result was, they got a delicate, small
tender sheep, called the Saxony sheep, which
IL all over the regions have mentioned.
The gentleman who bid off, in 1917
think, the greater part Of the royal flock
that was sold in England was a captain in
the British Navy, His name | do not now
remember; think it was MITCHELL or some
common namc of that kind lie went,
about the same time, to SaX)ny, and bought
a larger lock of the Saxony breed, and car
| RED them both to Australia. That is now
the lamily of Australian sheep their wool
is a fine silky wool. 1t has been produced
by crossing the breeds from Eng land and
Saxony,
Now, how came these sheep in our coun-
| try Mr. Livingston, who was our Minis
ter to France in the latter part of the reign
of Louis XVI, got few sheep from the
Rambouillet flock in France, and carried
them to New Rochelle, in New York. Col
onel IIumphries, of Connecticut, was our
Minister in Spain at that time, and he got
few sheep as a present from the King Of
Spain. They were taken to Connecticut;
| but they never amounted to much,
About 1910, at Bonaparte's second inva-
sion of Spain, when he had possession OF the
Prices of Peace, and was endeavoring to re.
establish Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish
| throne, the Courts ordered the sale Of the
royal hocks, for the purpose of raising
money to defend the nation, giving to the
purchasers the right to carry them out of
the kingdom William Jarvis, who is still
living in Vermont, was then our consul at
Lisbon. Seeing this advertisement, he went
into Estramadura, and at that auction bid
off eleven hundred of the sheep. He sent
them to this country-to Baltimore, Phila-
delphia, New York and Boston-reserying
a flock for himself, as he was about to re-
turn home lie returned with his flock to
his farm in Vermont, where he now resides,
and where he has kept that family of sheep
to this day. lie has shearlngs Of each year
from that time to this, marked with the
date, 50 as YOU can compare them, and see
whether the wool is improving or deterior-
ating There is decided improvement 1t
is great deal better than when he brought
the sheep from Spain. His importation
was the basis of the merino sheep of this
country. | well remember, that soon after
the close Of the last war with Great Britain,
in which we suffered so much for woolens,
some of these sheep, year or two old, sold
for !54O0 piece. | have seen a little meri-
no sheep, that man could carry under his
arm, sold for S4oo They were thus intro
duced into New England, and they have
gradually spread off into Pennsylvania, New
York, Ohio, and so on West. AS late as
ls2G, after we had entered upon the protec-
tive system in relation TO wOolens, and es-
pecially after the act of ls2S, our people
went to SaxOny, and obtained some of the
Saxon flock, as I, finer wool sheep. COnsid-
cradle numbers of them were imported in
those two years; but they..did not answer our
purpose ot the North. They were too feeble;
they were not stout enough for our climate;
they did not winter well but they have
done pretty well IN some parts of the cOu-
try have particularly on my mind Wash
irgton county, in Pennsylvania, where they
are producing Saxony wool of high quality.
In OHIO they have crossed the Saxony with
our eastern merinoes; and a large part of
the wool of northern Ohio now IS of as
high grade as the full blood merino, and
perhaps grade beyond that and Saxony to-
gether
have thus, Mr.. President, attem pied to
show, in brief, summary manner, that the
fine wool is all the product Of a single
family of sheep. What difference there is
in its quality depends on the care, and the
breeding, and probably somewhat slightly
on the climate and the feeding. In Saxony
their hocks are driven under shelter in the
hot days of Summer. There are sheds for
them to protect them from the heat of the
sun. That care is not taken in this coun-
try perhaps they do not need it here. In
Australia the wool made from the English
and SaxOny merino is q fine and rather
longer wool than ours. 1t is silky. Some
few of those sheep have been taken to Bra
zil and Chill, and there crossed with the
native sheep, producing rather better
quality of wool, but still coarse WOOL
The great body of the long wool, which is
combing wool, for the making of worsted, is
English wool. The coarser wools, which
we use for booking, carpets, blankets, and
coarse articles, are the Smyrna and Rio ia
nero woods. The wool cited in your com
merce and navigation reports as Smyrna
wool comes from Asia Minor and the wool
quoted as Buenos Ayres is from Rio Janeiro
and other parts of South America.
The difference between us and England is,
that they raise coarse wool, and they may
very well admit free of duty fine wool for
their manufactures without interfering with
the home productive wool, whereas the
great body OF our sheep are raised for fine
wool. | do not say that it is as fine as the
finest Saxony, but it is fine spinning, full
ing felting wool. Can it be said for one
moment that there is any degree of parallel
ism between us and England Wen may let
in coarse wool and under the protective
tariff of ls42, all wool below seven cents
pound was let in without duty at all. 1t is
not that that troubles our people, but it is
the fine wool. Gentlemen, then, will see at
once why it is that we cannot be considered
as parallel to England in this matter, and
why the same law cannot produce the same
effect here that it did there.
RTSu I