72 BREEDING OF SHEEP. 



quantity: if this lamb, being a female, be coupled 

 afterwards with a ram without jarre, their lamb will 

 have none of it. Many experiments of this improve- 

 ment have been made, by coupling hairy ewes with 

 rams having no jarre.* 



Q. Can the melioration of a flock of sheep be 

 sooner or more profitably made, by purchasing high 

 priced rams ? 



A. Of all the methods of meliorating a flock of 

 sheep, the most perfect rams improve one the fastest, 

 and afford the most profit. Money should not be spar- 

 ed to obtain rams from a distance : an improvement in 

 the size of the sheep, and in the quantity and quality 

 of the wool, may be anticipated from the lambs, 

 which will be produced. It is not surprising, that a 

 ram whose wool was twenty-three inches long, should 

 have sold in England, for twelve hundred francs, fifty 

 pounds sterling : the improvement of flocks of sheep 

 can never be obtained, where good rams do not bear 

 a great price ; it would be proper at least, that they 

 should sell dearer than the finest wethers, for the 

 purpose of inducing the owners of flocks to preserve 

 their best lambs to become rams. If earnest money 

 were given to the owners of sheep, to prevent them 

 from cutting, or selling such lambs as should be 

 reserved ; it would be still better to purchase them 

 i 



* When the fine vvooled sheep arrived at Rambouillet in 1786, a great 

 part of them had jarre : it however disappeared in the after generation : 

 Those which have just arrived, and were lately purchased in Spain, by 

 Gilbert, have jarre, but it will disappear as in the first instance. This 

 fact proves, that without crossing, the jarre may be destroyed by care. 



