16 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
guent importation of Merinos by M. de Perce, result- 
ed so favorably as to attract the notice of the govern- 
ment, which instituted a series of experiments on the 
subject, under the direction of the celebrated Dauben- 
ton. These proved satisfactory, and Louis X VIII. of 
France applied to the King of Spain for permission to 
export a flock. The latter not only granted the re- 
quest, but ordered “that they should be selected from 
the finest flocks of Spain.” <A little over three hun- 
dred of them arrived safely in France in 1786, and 
were placed in an agricultural establishment, devoted 
to the improvement of domestic animals, at Rambouil- 
let, about forty miles from Paris. 
Gilbert, in his already cited report to,the National 
Institute of France, in 1796, thus describes them, and 
the course of breeding to which they were subjected : 
“The stock from which the flock of Rambouillet 
was derived, was composed of individuals beantiful 
beyond any that had ever before been brought from 
Spain; but having been chosen from a great number 
of flocks, in different parts of the kingdom, they were 
distinguished by very striking local differences, which 
formed a medley disagreeable to the eye, but Immate- 
rial as it affected their quality. These characteristic 
differences have melted into each other, by their suc- 
cessive alliances, and from thence has resulted a race 
which perhaps resembles none of those which com- 
posed the primitive stock, but which certainly does 
not yield in any circumstance to the most beautiful 
in point of size, form, and strength, or in the fineness, 
length, softness, strength, and abundance of flecce. 
*  * The comparison I have made with the most 
scrupulous attention, between this wool and the high- 
est priced of that drawn from Spain, authorizes me to 
declare that of Rambouillet superior.” 
