The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-05-12

growers, and particularly for the Silesian.
In that period the price of wool sunk so
low, and itappeared as If England had taken
leave forever of the German wool market,
that many were affrighted and began to d.
minish their hocks, and change their whole
system of farming. 1t produced a crises,
and their attention was principally directed
to an increase of wool in the fleece, to COM
pensate for the loss sustained in the prices.
This crisis operated very benfcially upon
the whole system of breeding meriLos the
wool growers, instead of aiming at the
highest degree of fineness, had now great
er quantity of wool in view"
Finally came the fifth stage, which has
for its object to produce not only The finest
and softest wool, but in great quantity"
Aud for aught know the Prussians have
themselves added in the sixth stage, what
their sheep when last heard from lacked.
to be a practically good sheep for the Amer
lean market, (when our upper classes sus-
tain their manufacturers in wanting their
fue wool to wit form, and oil that will
stand moderate degree of exposure, with
out vanishing like the early dew.
The first importation of sheep of any i'm
portancc into the United States were French,
in 1902. by Chancellor Livingston, Ameri-
tdll hiHlsltI " TIdltts lntN bOIt nDl
much resemblance to the modern French
and were probably genuine Spanish merinos
before changed in form and constitution by
the French system of breeding and culture.
SO successful was Mr. Livingston that he
sold ram lambs of his own breeding, in 1910
for 81 900 each, and sheared from full
blood eve the enormous fleece of s lbs. -
or and from yearling ram of his own
breeding, i lbs. | or. ofwool in the grease,
nearly 3 lbs more than from the heaviest
shearing of his imported stock.
Later in the year, 1902, Col Humphrey,
American Minister to Spain, brought home
to this country 81 rams and 20 ewes, pur-
chased for him in the best cabanos of Ie-
onresa TyanShu NANTES of Spain, supposed
to be the 1nInfantado. These cabanos, or
families such as Infantado Pauler Gaudel-
onpe, Nigretti, Escurial, Aiguerras, Mon
trace, Arriza, etc, were subdivisions of the
choice TranShu NANTES of Estramadura and
Leon, and presented characteristics indica-
tive Of the peculiar tastes and skill of their
owners end breeders, from whom they took
their names.
"In 1909 and $780, says Randall, "Nlr
Jarvis, Consul at Libson, Portugal, taking
advantage of the offers of the Spanish no.
blcs, bought and shipped to different ports
in the United States about three thousand
eight hundred and fifty sheep. About
1900 ofthese were Aiguerras, 200 Escurials
and 200 MontarCos. The remainder CON
sisted of Paulers and Nigrettis, mostly OF
the former"
At this period merino sheep bore a very
high price, rs has before boon remarked OF
Chancellor Liviugston's; 500 per head was
not uncommon. 1t is related in the life OF
Consul Jarvis, by his daughter, "that one
morning al breakfast IL letter from his agent
was handed her father, relating to the sale
of little bunch of sheep, that were not to
be sold under $500 each. but much to his
chagrin in his hasty perusal, lie read the
lot had been sold for $500, but trihe over
Sl00 per head. More careful reading af-
terward showed. and to his surprise, the
price TO have been Sl5, 600
Andrew Cock, of Flushing, Long Island,
in ISL paid to Richard Crowningshield, i'm
porter, ssll00 per head for two ewes of the
Escurial eabana. The major part of his
flock were from the Pauler, and purchased
at from $50 to 100, in the same year.
In 1915 the treaty of Client removed the
embargo, re-opencd commerce, admitting
cheap labor manufactured, foreign goods
free, thus destroying the manufacturing in.
as in Spain, away went sheep. Randall
says: "Such revulsion ensued that be.
fore the close of the year fullblood mcrino
sheep were sold for = per head! Wool did
not materially rally in price for the nine
succeeding years, and during that period
most of the full-blood fiocks of the country
were broken up or adulterated."
The wooden tariff of 1924 gave new life to
the production of fine wool, and for five
years Saxon merinos were largely imported
into the United States AS many as 100
were brought into the port of Boston alone
and nearly or quite as many more into 9th.
ers. Some of them, selling as high as S4OC
to $780, were of fine blood, but very many
were low grade, and the great maj ority were
miserable "stop sale sheep" as they were
called in Germany, and brought along with
them scab and foot rot and from all ac-
counts about all the ills that the merinc
race are heir to.
These sheep sheared n fleece of fine soft
downy wool of from 9 to 3 lbs, but so des-
titute of oil that the ordinary exposure OF
the country would cause the wool to ''cot'
on the Sleeps back, and the ends to become
dead and dry. Such wool flies" and wastes
in the manufacture.
In 1928 the fine wool tariff "excited q
mania" and "every producer strove to OBJ
tain the finest" wool regardless of ever,
other consideration Manufacturers wen,
through the country offering large prices
for fine wool, drawing bright pictures of the
brilliant future of those who had to do will
the growing or manufacturing of it. Own.
crs of Spanish merinos were ovcr-persuaded
and many who had carried along their pure
sheep under every Encouragement, yielded
o,,I all i,,tA tI,a O..
sheep, and rushed along down the stream
with the rest. There was an ignorance OF
the knowledge of fine wool breeding and Of
demands of the American maaket for wool
ems We had no large upper class ''tc
covet wardrobe of the finest text.
ure,' and manufacturers failing
to get that support they had fondly antici.
pated from home, and receiving no foreign
orders, were unable to pay the prices they
| had led growers to expect. reaction took
place, after the crash of 1897, and culmin-
ated in the final overthrow of Saxon sheer
in America with the horizontal ad faloreDl
tariff in 1916.
"In 1918, Stephen Atwood, OF Woodbury.
Conn, bought Spanish merino eve OF
| Col. Humphrey for $l20. This eve he
bred to Humphreys rams, or rams he knew
to he of pure Humphrey blood, until about
1880, when he bred from his own flock. AT
this time pedigrees of the old fashioned
merinos received very little attention. Mr..
Atwood alone, in his respect and we may
almost say veneration, for the IIumph-
rey sheep, having once lived with
and formed his taste from his flo k,
adhered to them in opposition to the opin,
ions and practice of every other sheer
breeder that was then, or has since, come
prominently before the public, except one.
Hon. Charles Rich with Leonard Bedell, OF
Shoreham, VT, purchased in 1928, of An
drew Cock, Of Flushing, l.. l., flock OF
Pauler merino sheen, and the Rich flocl,
have undoubtedly been bred pure since,
although they have taken crosses of Jarvis
and Atwood rams. In 1910, the downfall
of Saxons being assured, an account OF
stock showed the following results; The
Jarvis sheep had been largely crossed with
the Saxons, a small part remained, in which
the five families originally imported hat
| been mixed, the greater DrODOrtion hoino