THE FRENCH MERINO. 19 



report made to the National Institute of France, ten years 

 afterwards, thus speaks of them : 



"The stock from which the flock of Rambouillet was 

 derived, was composed of individuals beautiful beyond any 

 that had ever before been brought from Spain; but having 

 been chosen from a great number of flocks, in different parts 

 of the kingdom, they were distinguished by very striking 

 local differences, which formed a medley disagreeable to the 

 eye, but immaterial as it affected their quality. These 

 characteristic differences have melted into each other, by 

 their successive alliances, and from thence has resulted a race 

 which perhaps resembles none of those which composed the 

 primitive stock, but which certainly does not yield in any 

 circumstance to the most beautiful in point of size, form and 

 strength, or in the fineness, length, softness, strength and 

 abundance of fleece. * * * The comparison I have 

 made with the most scrupulous attention, between this wool 

 and the highest priced of that drawn from Spain, authorizes 

 me to declare that of Rambouillet superior." 



Lasteyrie thus gives their weight of fleeces, unwashed, 

 through a series of years: In 1796, 6 Ibs. 9 oz.; 1797, 8 Ibs.; 

 1793, 7 Ibs.; 1799, 8 Ibs.; 1800, 8 Ibs.; 1801, 9 Ibs. 1 oz. In 

 1802, he says: "The medium weight of full grown nursing 

 ewes' fleece's was 8 Ibs. 7 oz.; of the ewes of three years old, 

 which had no lambs, 9 Ibs. 13 oz.; and two-tenths [grade] 

 ewes, 10 Ibs. 8 oz." 



Mr. Trimmer, an English flock-master and writer of ex- 

 perience, thus described them in 1827 : 



" The sheep, in size, are certainly the largest pure Merinos 

 I have ever seen. The wo6l is of various qualities, many 

 sheep carrying very fine fleeces, others middling, and some 

 rather indifferent ; but the whole is much improved from the 

 quality of the original Spanish Merinos. In carcass and 

 appearance I hesitate not to say they are the most unsightly 

 flock of the kind I ever met with. The Spaniards entertained 

 an opinion that a looseness of skin under the throat, and other 

 parts, contributed to the increase of fleece. This system the 

 French have so much enlarged on that they have produced, in 

 this flock, individuals with dewlaps almost down to the knees, 

 and folds of skin on the neck, like frills, covering nearly the 

 head. Several of these animals seem to possess pelts of such 

 looseness of size that one skin would nearly hold the carcasses 

 of two such sheep. The pelts are particularly thick, which is 

 unusual in the Merino sheep. The rams' fleeces were stated 



