20 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



There is nothing incredible in these stated results 

 of this most successful French experiment. The gain 

 in wool is no greater, in proportion, than we witnessed 

 in the American Merino in the sixteen years which 

 succeeded 1840. 



Leaping over a chasm of twenty-five years, let us 

 again examine the Rambouillet sheep, and ascertain 

 the progress of this most interesting experiment 

 through the eyes of an English breeder of Merinos. 

 Mr. Trimmer, the author of the " Practical Observa- 

 tions," visited this flock in 1827, and the following is 

 his often quoted description of it : 



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

 Merinos I. have ever seen. The wool 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 hesi- 

 tate 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 particu- 

 larly thick, which is unusual in the Merino sheep. 

 The rams' fleeces were stated at 14 Ibs., and the ewes' 

 10 Ibs., in the grease. By washing they would be re- 

 duced half, thus giving 7 and 5 Ibs. each." 



Washed, in the American way, these rams' fleeces 



