20 FINE WOOL SITEEP HUSBANDRY. 
There is nothing incredible in these stated results 
of this most successful French experiment. The gain 
in wool is no greater, in proportion, than we witnessed. 
in the American Merino in the sixteen years which 
succeeded 1840. 
Leaping over a chasm of twenty-five years, let us 
again examine the Rambouillet sheep, and ascertain 
the progress of this most interesting experiment 
through the eyes of an English breeder of Merinos. 
Mr. Trimmer, the author of the “ Practical Observa- 
tions,” visited this flock in 1827, and the following is 
his often quoted description of it: 
“The sheep, in size, are certainly the largest pure 
Merinos J have ever seen. The wool is of various 
qualities, many sheep carrying very fine fleeces, others 
middling, and some rather indifferent; but the whole 
is much improved from the quality of the original 
Spanish Merinos. In carcass and appearance I hesi- 
tate not to say they are the most unsightly flock of 
the kind I ever met with. The Spaniards entertained 
an opinion that a looseness of skin under the throat, 
and other parts, contributed to the increase of fleece. 
This system the French have so much enlarged on 
that they have produced, in this flock, individuals 
with dewlaps almost down to the knees, and folds of 
skin on the neck, like frills, covering nearly the head. 
Several of these animals seem to possess pelts of such 
looseness of size that one skin would nearly hold the 
carcasses of two such sheep. The pelts are particu- 
larly thick, which is unusual in the Merino sheep. 
The rams’ fleeces were stated at 14 Ibs., and the ewes’ 
10 Ibs., in the grease. By washing they would be re- 
duced half, thus giving 7 and 5 Ibs. each.” 
Washed, in the American way, these rams’ fleeces 
