THE RAMBOUILLET 



523 



bred continuously for over half a century and which, perhaps, had 

 a longer record than any other American flock of the breed. 

 In 1855 A. R. Seymour of Fayette County, Ohio, bought 2 rams 

 and 25 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 



Fig. 233. A Rambouillet ram, second in class at the Ohio State Fair, 1905. Bred 



and exhibited by Max Chapman, Marysville, Ohio. This is a C type sheep. 



From photograph by the author 



the flocks of some of the prominent Michigan breeders, but a let- 

 ter before the author, 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 Me§}§i^j?(^ri^ijf^4^e success anticipated, not 



