Merino Sheep Industrv. 207 



aud the UniLed Slates took advantaj^c of it, although in dif- 

 ferent degrees. 



Naturally it would be supposed that France, from her 

 proximity, would be first to avail herself of the superiority 

 of the Merino, and early been second to none for the beauty 

 and value of lier sheep and wool. Indeed, measures were 

 in progress, at the opening of her sanguinary and sweeping 

 rcvolutioD, to secure the prize, but that so far distracted the 

 attention of the government and people that the only suc- 

 cessful effort of national importance was the flock known as 

 Kambouillet. 



This flock gradually increased in numbers and quahty, 

 fostered by tlie government and that fine care whicli has 

 made the French system so renowned ; the average weight 

 of fleece being raised from six pounds nine ounces in 1791 to 

 nine pounds in 1801, a period of ten years, and to fourteen 

 pounds for rams and ten pounds for ewes in the next twenty, 

 and in softness, fineness, length and strength of fibre it was 

 second to none. 



From. that time to the present the strides of sheep, wool 

 and woolens of France, fostered by a discriminating and 

 enliglitened policy of the government and people, have 

 placed her high in the scale of excellence among the wool 

 nations of the earth. 



" To notliing," says Mr. Hayes, Secretary of the National 

 Wool Manufiicturcrs' Association of the United States, in 

 an address before a convention of woolen manufticturers and 

 wool growers, " is France so much indebted for the beauty 

 and brilliancy of her woolen fabrics as to the perfection of 



