FINE WOOL SUEEP HUSBANDRY. 17 
Judging by the taste uniformly displayed by the 
French in that particular, there is little doubt that 
“abundance of fleece” was the first rather than the 
last consideration—as it here happens to be named— 
which guided the original selection. And the far 
more liberal feed which the sheep received in France, 
their exemption from the exhausting annual migra- 
tions of Spain, and a course of breeding specially de- 
signed to produce that result, rapidly carried the 
weight of their fleeces beyond any point ever known 
in their native country. 
Ten years after their introduction into France, Las- 
teyrie gives their average weight of fleeces, unwashed, 
and thus continues it through a series of years: in 
1796, 6 lbs. 9 oz.5 1797, 8 Ibs.; 1798, 7 lbs.; 1799, 8 
Ibs. ; 1800, 8 lbs.: L801, 9 Ibs. 1 oz. 
While all practical wool-growers know that some 
seasons produce lighter fleeces than others—without 
reference to the apparent condition of the sheep, or to 
the weather, or an'y other circumstance known to influ- 
ence the growth of wool, the disparity here exhibited 
between 1796, and the succeeding years, cannot be thus 
explained, and it would be preposterous to imagine 
that the course of improvement had advanced thus 
abruptly within so limited a period. 
Gilbert, writing under government patronage, said, 
in 1796: 
« Almost all the fleeces of the rams of two years 
old, and upwards, weigh from twelve to thirteen 
pounds, but the mean weight, taking rams and ewes 
together, has not quite attained to eight pounds, after 
deducting the tags and the wool from the belly, which 
are sold separately.” This is probably the correct 
