No. 4.] SHEEP RAISING. 147 



bouillet. On Oct. 12, 1786, Louis XVI of France placed 

 on the government experimental farm at Rambouillet, France, 

 334 ewes and 42 rams, taken from 10 of the best Spanish 

 sheepfolds, according to the recommendation of the king 

 of Spain himself. The weights of the unshorn bucks were 

 approximately from 110 to 120 pounds, and of the unshorn 

 ewes about 72.5 to 88 pounds. The fleece of the bucks 

 weighed about 8.8 pounds, and that of the ewes about 7.7 

 pounds. The object was to send out reproducers from this 

 flock as a free gift to the choicest flocks in France. No new 

 blood has been added to the flock since 1800. In the cata- 

 logue of the Oregon State tair this year I was told that the 

 managers made a class of French Merinos and a separate 

 class of Rambouillets ; but I have not been informed how 

 any such distinction could properly be made. From 1840 

 until the present time the object has been to produce Merinos, 

 of which the animals were at the same time valuable for 

 slaughtering and for the production of wool. In 1867 the 

 bucks of the Rambouillet flock weighed, with their fleece, 

 192.5 pounds, and the ewes 135.3 pounds, also with the 

 fleece included. 



Another famous flock of Rambouillets in France is the 

 Victor Gilbert, which was started in 1800 from Rambouillet, 

 France, by a gift from Emperor Napoleon, who took special 

 pride in the sheepfold at Rambouillet, and visited them 

 often. Still another famous flock from which these sheep 

 have been brought in large numbers to the United States is 

 that of Baron F. Von Homeyer of Pomerania, Russia, who 

 started his flock from Rambouillet, France, in 1850. From 

 the three famous European flocks of Rambouillet sheep just 

 mentioned have come the great number of Rambouillet sheep 

 now in the United States. 



I have now about 200 sheep and laml)s of this descri[)tion, 

 and am finally disposing of any other breeds that 1 have 

 had. Rambouillet rams which are oflered for breeding pur- 

 poses in the United States range as high occasionally as 

 300 pounds or more each. At the head of a famous French 

 Merino flock in California, which I visited this summer, was 

 until recently " Taxpayer," weighing 324 pounds and shear- 

 ing 54 pounds of wool per annum ; but this noble animal 



