50 Essay on Sheep. 



^^ strength ; or In the fineness, length, softnessv 

 *' strength, and abundance of the fleece. The 

 " manufacturers and dealers in wool, who came 

 " in numbers to Rambouillet this year (1796), 

 " to purchase, unanimously agreed to this fact, 

 *^ at the very time that they were combining to 

 *' keep down the price. The comparison I 

 ^' have made with the most scrupulous atten- 

 '' tion, between this wool and the highest priced 

 '' of that drawn from Spain, authorizes me to 

 *' declare that of Rambouillet superior; unless, 

 " as they pretend, the best of the Spanish wool 

 " is not imported into France, but reserved for 

 '* England and Holland ; an assertion which is 

 " certainly very improbable, and which, if true, 

 " would argue a great superiority in our manu- 

 " factories; since the superiority of our fine 

 " cloths over those of any other nation has 

 " never been contested. All the wool of Spain 

 '' that I have examined, not excepting the 

 ^* prime Leonese, the most esteemed of any, 

 '^ appeared to me to contain much more jar 

 *^ than that of Rambouillet. Every thing seems 

 ** to evince that we shall soon totally banish 

 '' this hard intractable hair, so hurtful to the 

 " manufacture, from our fleeces. Ahiiost all 

 ^' the fleeces of the rams of two years and up- 

 *^ wards, weigh from twelve to thirteen pounds; 



