THE FRENCH MERINO SHEEP. 



129 



The French Merino soon spread through the northern states, 

 but many breeders became dissatisfied with their tenderness, 

 as compared with the Spanish breeds, and they rapidly fell into 

 disfavor. They were not fitted for our rough farming, and re- 

 quired more care than American farmers are inclined to give to 

 their stock. The best of these animals were found, with proper 

 care, to be profitable, but the inferior ones were entirely worth- 

 less. Under such circumstances it is not surprising that they 

 should fall out of the race in competition with naturalized Spanish 

 Merinos, which, even when inferior, were still valuable, in propor- 

 tion to the good qualities they retained. In France the Merinos 



Fig. 43. FRENCH MEEINO. 



have favorably competed with the English breeds as mutton sheep, 

 and it is only recently that the French agricultural journals 

 are beginning to compare the profits from the Southdowns with 

 those from the Merinos. 



At the Vienna International Exhibition in 1873, the French 

 Merinos were largely represented, and were very favorably 

 noticed. The specimens there exhibited were large and well 

 formed, the skin was free from large folds or wrinkles, and the 

 wool was long, fine, strong, and thickly set on the skin. The best 

 of them, however, came from Germany. The ram, whose portrait 

 is here given, was exhibited by Herr Kannenberg, of Gerbin, near 



