42 J Dr. Parry's Essay on the Nature, Produce, Origin, 



The 2-tootbs, unshorn when lambs, give more than gib. or gib. 13 oz. English, 

 of unwashed wool. One of his rams, of the same age, sold to M. LuUm, produced 

 a fleece of 131b. 5 oz. ; 141b. 13 oz. English. The loss in scouring is said to 

 be three-fifths. 



After the period above specified, M. Pictet augmented his flock by two farther 

 draughts from that of Rarabouillet ; so that, in 1802, his whole number amounted 

 to g rams and g8 ewes. He asserts that his wool is finer than any which he had 

 seen from Spain, or other parts of France, and more especially than that of the 

 sheep last imported by Gilbert. I have in my possession several specimens of 

 M. Pictet's wool, with which I have been favoured by Thomas Poole, Esq. of 

 Nether Stowey, in Somersetshire. One of them, which is that of a ram, is, I think, 

 fully deserving of the praise which he gives it, and is probably superior to any 

 which I have been able to procure from Spain. 



Besides these, and several other French flocks of pure Merinos, there are many 

 of the mixed breed. One of the most remarkable of these is the national flock of 

 Alfort, which was originally situated at Sceaux, and afterwards at the farm attached 

 to the Menagerie at Versailles ; from whence it was finally removed in 1800, when 

 that farm was given by the government to the Abbe Sieyes. This institution was 

 formed for the express purpose of trying the result of crossing various ewes with 

 Spanish rams. The ewes were those of Beam, the Valais, Beauce, Boulogne^ 

 Lincoln, Sologne, and Roussillon; of which the third, sixth, and seventh, were 

 short-woolled, and the others of the long-wooUcd kind. 



At Aifort, as at Rambouilkf, there is a school for shepherds, sent by the depart- 

 ments, or by individuals; by the farmer at the rate of thirty shillings per month each 

 person, which includes board, lodging, clothing, instructions, books, and instru* 

 ments. Private persons pay about i8j. 6ci. per month for board, besides lodging, 

 ice. The course continues for a year, and includes the anatomy, natural history, 

 and physiology, nature and cure of diseases, mode of feeding, and other treatment 

 of these useful animals. 



Monsitur Chabert, at the veterinary school of Maisons, at Charenton, has a 

 private establishment, chiefly appiopriated to experiments of a similar kind, which 

 he has prosecuted with equal ability and success. 



The general result of all these experiments is said to be, that, with due care, the 

 woo), in every breed of sheep, is capable of arriving at a degree of fineness fully 



