THE RAMBOUILLET 371 



and freer from oil or dark coloring than is the Delaine, while 

 folds occur on the neck and breast but rarely on the body or 

 hind quarters. One is impressed at times with a tendency to 

 coarseness of bone and length of leg. 



The size of the Rambouillet averages larger than any of the 

 other Merinos; in fact years ago they were nicknamed "Elephant 

 Merinos." The rams will average about 185 pounds at maturity 

 and the ewes 150 to 160. Some rams are said to have weighed 

 over 300 pounds, and cases are known of ewes weighing about 

 250 pounds. The ram Matchless, imported by George Campbell 

 in 185 1 from the Gilbert flock, weighed 261 pounds. Mr. Max 



Fig. 166. A pair of Rambouillet rams, the property of Henri Gilbeit, 

 Wideville, France. These sheep had been shorn but a few weeks 

 previous to the time the author took the photograph 



Chapman of Ohio bred the ram Sampson, which weighed 280 

 pounds at twenty months old, and the ewe Bern ice, which at 

 three years weighed 244 pounds. 



The Rambouillet as a mutton producer ranks very well, though 

 inferior to the mutton breeds. It will mature fairly rapidly and 

 will produce a class of mutton which will sell well, though it is 

 not of the highest quality. This is the only class of Merinos 

 offered a place for exhibition at the International Live Stock 

 Exposition, a testimonial to the mutton value of the wethers. 

 In the Iowa experiments on fattening wether lambs, in the one 

 trial reported, the Rambouillet made an average daily gain of 

 .37 pound, requiring 1029 pounds dry matter for 100 pounds 

 gain. In the carcass test the Rambouillet dressed out the poorest 



