FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 17 



Judging by the taste uniformly displayed by the 

 French in that particular, there is little doubt that 

 " abundance of fleece" was the first rather than the 

 last consideration as it here happens to be named 

 which guided the original selection. And the far 

 more liberal feed which the sheep received in France, 

 their exemption from the exhausting annual migra- 

 tions of Spain, and a course of breeding specially de- 

 signed to produce that result, rapidly carried the 

 weight of their fleeces beyond any point ever known 

 in their native country. 



Ten years after their introduction into France, Las- 

 teyrie gives their average weight of fleeces, unwashed, 

 and thus continues it through a series of years : in 

 1796, 6 Ibs. 9 oz. ; 1797, 8 Ibs. ; 1798, 7 Ibs. ; 1799, 8 

 Ibs. ; 1800, 8 Ibs. : 1801, 9 Ibs. 1 oz. 



While all practical wool-growers know that some 

 seasons produce lighter fleeces than others without 

 reference to the apparent condition of the sheep, or to 

 the weather, or any other circumstance known to influ- 

 ence the growth of wool, the disparity here exhibited 

 between 1796, and the succeeding years, cannot be thus 

 explained, and it would be preposterous to imagine 

 that the course of improvement had advanced thus 

 abruptly within so limited a period. 



Gilbert, writing under government patronage, said, 

 in 1796 : 



" Almost all the fleeces of the rams of two years 

 old, and upwards, weigh from twelve to thirteen 

 pounds, but the mean weight, taking rams and ewes 

 together, has not quite attained to eight pounds, after 

 deducting the tags and the wool from the belly, which 

 are sold separately." This is probably the correct 



