The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-07-04

this country, and with painstaking in
telligence distributed to prominent
farmers from Maine to Virginia, in
many cases by gift. will let Consul
Jarvis, as he was known In my state
during the many years Of his useful life,
tell the story of these importations by
reading brief extracts of letter, dated
Weathersfield, VT, December %, 1S41,
and addressed to Henry S. Randall,
corresponding secretary of the New
York State Agricultural Society, and
published in the transactions OF that
society for that year. In speaking OF
the merino breed Of sheep, he says:
1t was known in Spain in the time Of Co
lumbus, writer on agriculture in the reign
of Augustus Cesar. But whether indigen-
GUS in that kingdom, or imported into 1t at
an earlier period, is not certainly known;
but the latter is the most probable, from
their name Marino," which is the Spanish
spelling, and which means beyond the sea.
So did the Spaniards value this breed OF
sheep that they were prohibited by law
from expectation, under penalty OF tran
sportation to the mines, or confinement to
the galleys for life.
The first that were sent to this country
was in 1902, by Chancellor Livington OF
New York, then minister to France, who
obtained a buck and two ewes from the
Rambouillet flock; and the same year the
Hon. David Humphreys, who had been
minister to Spain, got out 200 through
Portugal, which were sent to Connecticut
and placed on his farm near New Haven.
The value of this useful animal was not
then appreciated in the United States; and
those two importations remained unnotced
Of s,,pU until the pbarUO in 1SlI
and the non-intercourse of the two subse-
quent years cut off our accustomed supply
Of wooden goods from England, and began
| to call the attention of rejecting men to the
necessity of rendering ourselves independ-
ent of foreign nations for the supply OF
| those all-essential articles OF human COM
| fort, by the establishment Of wooden manu-
features among ourselves.
This independence it is now proposed
surrender to England.
When the second Eruption of the French
armies into Spain in the winter of 1909
drove the Spanish Junto from Madrid to
| Badajos, the Junto was without money and
without resources.
No alternative was therefore left them
| other than to sell the four tlocks of merinos
which had been confscated with the other
property of four graduates who had joined
France, with license to transport them out
of Spain.
| also purchased about 1900 Aqueirres,
and selected about 200 from the Montarcos.
l likewise purchased in Spain 200 of the
| Escurial flock from the mayoral, which
were the only Escurials ever sent to this
country. 1 shipped in 1909 and 1910 about
| $3.50 to this country of the aforementioned
iocks, being all which l purchased in
Spain, and which were distributed as fol-
| L. A 1.o,,N - Vs-lr. TO
Boston and Newburyport, including $50
which l sent to be reserved for me; the re-
mainder were sent to Philadelphia, Balti-
more, Alexandria, Norfolk, and Richmond,
and small number to Wiscasset, Portland,
and Portsmouth, and l was disposed to dis
tribute those valuable animals to every
state which would be likely to profit by the
acquisition.
| All those sheep were Leonesa, trans
monies, and were Of the prime focks of
| Spain.
Twenty-Five years experience satisfies
me that the wool of the Spanish merno has
rather improved About six years ago 1
| compared my merino wool with fifteen or
| twenty samples OF the Paular flock that had
been sent me from Spain when purchased;
two gave decided preference to that taken
from my sheep. Mr.. James Shepherd when
he carried on the factory at Northampton,
and who purchased my merino wool for
several years, told me that the superfne
| broadcloths made from my wool handled
softer than did those from the best imported
| Spanish wool he could purchase. When
| the merino has been bred with attention
and care the wool has not deteriorated in
any other country than England, and the
deterioration there has unquestionably been
| owing to the uncommon humidity Of that
| climate
From this beginning have come the
wonderful results which have added
hundreds of millions of wealth to this
country, besides giving us the great
national advantages which result from
our independence of other countries for
the supply of this great staple. While
wool-raising has ceased in my state to
be as profitable as formerly, the breed
sheep is still very important branch
of agricultural production. The breed
ers of Vermont, and doubtless those of
other states, annually visit and exhibit
their sheep at the fairs in the wool
raising regions of Australia and South
America and take the leading premiums
in those countries. AS result of the
superiority of their sheep, they have
made large sales abroad. Buyers from
those countries come here every season
to make their purchases. How much
our success in breeding has done to in
crease the average weight of fine wool
heeces may be understood from the fact
that within fifty years the average in
United States has increased threefold
and in Australia it has nearly doubled
in twenty-five years. That this result,
this great addition to the wealth of the
world, is due to American breeders is
clear from the fact that they were the
first to start upon scientific and sys-
tematic course of improvement of the
breed of Spanish merino sheep, and
they still hold long lead in this direc-
ton. This controlling position has
been gained only by more than eighty
years of earnest, persistent, and able
effort on the part of our leading sheep
breeders, class of men who have
| counted among their nnmher MANY of