370 



SHEEP 



County, Ohio, bought two rams and twenty-five ewes of Jewett. 

 Along about 1855 a Mr. Downs of Calhoun County, Michigan, 

 bought a few of the Patterson sheep. The claim has been made 

 that a Mr. Stanton of Michigan purchased from Mr. Patterson, 

 from which stock has descended the flocks of some of the promi- 

 nent Michigan breeders, but a letter before the writer, written by 

 Mr. Patterson in 1893, does not corroborate this claim. Between 

 1856 and i860 most of the sheep owned by the latter gentleman 

 were sold to parties in California, from which stock the French 

 Merino sheep of the Pacific slope states descend. The Blaco- 

 Glide flock of California is said to trace back to this Patterson 



blood. What are now 

 known as Franco-Merinos 

 trace back into early 

 Michigan flocks of years 

 ago. These early French 

 Merinos were not the suc- 

 cess anticipated, not being 

 hardy nor suited to Amer- 

 ican conditions, and the 

 interest declined along in 

 the sixties, to be revived 

 about thirty years later. 

 Many large importations 

 have been made during 

 the past ten years and 

 notably about 1900. 

 Characteristics of the Rambouillet. This variety or family of 

 Merino does not differ so essentially in appearance from the 

 Delaine, e.xcept in size and breeding. The head is large, the nose 

 covered with white silky hair, and the ears are inclined to be 

 large and are covered with fine white hair or short fine wool. The 

 rams usually have large, spirally turned horns, but there are also 

 hornless males and the females are hornless. The wool is fairly 

 compact and long, averaging about three inches, and covers the 

 entire body, extending over the face below the eyes and down the 

 legs to the toes in good specimens. The exterior appearance is 

 of a sheep of good size, covered with a fine, rather white fleece, 



b'la. 165. A Rambouillet ram, imported by 

 Dwight Lincoln, Milford Center, Ohio. 

 Photograph by the author 



