18 THE FRENCH MERINO. 



importer of Silesian Merinos, informs me that he imported 

 about thirty Merinos from Spain, a few years since, and that 

 after seeing them and shearing them he quietly sold them in 

 the ensuing autumn to the butcher! William R. Sanford, of 

 Orwell, Vermont, a Merino sheep breeder of great judgment 

 and experience, visited the flocks of Spain, France and 

 Germany, in 1851, in behalf of himself, Mr. Hammond and 

 some other gentlemen of the same State, to ascertain whether 

 fine-wooled sheep superior to those of the United States could 

 be found in Europe. He thus wrote to me in respect to the 

 sheep of Spain: 



* * * On arriving at Madrid I found that most 

 of those who owned sheep to any amount lived in the city, 

 and through our Minister I got introductions to them. From 

 what I could learn from them in regard to the form, weight 

 of fleece, etc., of their sheep, I became satisfied that they had 

 none of much value. They finally admitted that they were 

 not as good as formerly, and that they were going to 

 Germany for bucks to improve them. I concluded, however, 

 I would go and see for myself. It is about 200 miles from 

 Madrid to the plains of Estremadura, where they winter their 

 sheep. On examining the flocks, I found they had no fixed 

 character. Occasionally there would be a fair looking sheep. 

 At first they pretended that their sheep were pure and the 

 best in the world. But when they found that I understood the 

 history of their flocks, and what I wanted, they admitted they 

 were not as good as the former ones, and they gave as a 

 reason that they had no standard flocks to resort to as they 

 had before the French invasion, at which time those 

 standard flocks were all broken up, those which were not 

 eaten, being sold and mixed with the common sheep of the 

 country, which were a very inferior kind. I did not see a 

 sheep in Spain that I would pay freight on to this country. I 

 do not believe they have any that are of pure blood." 



I have conversed with several other American sheep 

 breeders who have visited the Spanish flocks within the last 

 fifteen years, and all of them substantially concur in the 

 opinions above expressed. 



THE FRENCH MERINO. After several successful smaller 

 experiments in acclimating the Spanish Merino in France, 

 about 300 of them were imported under royal auspices to that 

 country in 1786. Gilbert, a French writer of reputation, in a 



