16 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



quent importation of Merinos by M. de Perce, result- 

 ed so favorably as to attract the notice of the govern- 

 ment, which instituted a series of experiments on the 

 subject, under the direction of the celebrated Dauben- 

 ton. These proved satisfactory, and Louis XYIII. of 

 France applied to the King of Spain for permission to 

 export a nock. The latter not only granted the re- 

 quest, but ordered " that they should be selected from 

 the finest flocks of Spain." A little over three hun- 

 dred of them arrived safely in France in 1786, and 

 were placed in an agricultural establishment, devoted 

 to the improvement of domestic animals, at Rambouil- 

 let, about forty miles from Paris. 



Gilbert, in his already cited report to the National 

 Institute of France, in 1796, thus describes them, and 

 the course of breeding to which they were subjected: 



" 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 immate- 

 rial as it affected their quality. These characteristic 

 differences have melted into each other, by their suc- 

 cessive alliances, and from thence has resulted a race 

 which perhaps resembles none of those which com- 

 posed 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 high- 

 est priced of that drawn from Spain, authorizes me to 

 declare that of liambouillet superior." 



