SPANISH AND FRENCH MERINOS 
6 
from investigating the FdV»Vt ior himself. My op¬ 
portunities may have been too limited for an im¬ 
partial judgment; and a more thorough and exten¬ 
sive search by a more experienced person, might 
find something worthy of being brought to this 
country, to improve our fine flocks. I heard of a few 
isolated individual sheep in other provinces, as be¬ 
ing very large, strong and fine. But if these could 
be had at all, it would be at very high prices. I 
had quite forgotten to observe, that the price of 
wool, of the better grades, ranged this year,from 80 
to 100 rials per arroba, or about 20 cents per lb., in 
its unwashed state. 
I cannot omit in my notes on the Spanish sheep, 
some allusion to the dogs which I saw in charge 
of them. These noble animals are a very necessa¬ 
ry appendage in this country, for the protection of 
the flocks against the ravages of wolves, which in¬ 
fest in large numbers almost every portion of Spain. 
They resemble the mastiff more than any other 
race of dogs with which I am familiar, exceeding 
the huge and far-famed St. Bernard in size, and 
blending unusual ferocity, Avith all the docility and 
sagacity which characterizes that breed. The price 
of these dogs varies from $30 to $50. They are 
“siostly a brown or tawny color; have fine muz- 
ries, large heads and jowls; ear standing er'ect from 
/he head nearly its whole length, but dropping over 
At the end; full in the throat and neck; stout and 
muscular in the whole body; about two feet six 
to two feet nine inches high ; hair long and wavy, 
and the legs and tail feathered. They are the 
largest dogs I have ever seen. One is more than a 
match for any wolf—those of Spain being large, 
savage, and courageous—and two will kill one 
directly. They would prove of great value for 
certain portions of America, and should be imported 
for the purpose of guarding our flocks. 
As regards the sheej> of France, which came 
next in order under my observation, I feel enabled 
to speak with more confidence, having more time 
at my disposal when I visited them, and an oppor¬ 
tunity of subjecting them to a more minute examin¬ 
ation. The Rambouillets I take up first as in the order 
visited. They struck me as being infinitely supe¬ 
rior to any I had seen in Spain. They are of great 
size, and are very fine and even in their fleeces. 
A prominent defect in the flock, is rather too 
great a length of leg. This, however, can be easily 
remedied by directing attention to this point of their 
breeding. Their bucks shear on an average from 
12 to 16 lbs. per head, and occasionally go as high 
as 17 or 18 lbs.; the ewes average from 8 to 10 
lbs. The wool, though unwashed, is quite neat 
and free from tag-locks. The history and manage¬ 
ment of this flock is so well known, and the fine 
specimens from it recently brought into this coun¬ 
try, have rendered their superior qualities so familiar, 
as to supersede the necessity of any further notice 
of them. A public sale takes place every year in 
May. They are in great demand at present and 
bring high prices. 
1 will now direct your attention to another flock 
derived directly from the Rambouillets, which, not 
only in the opinion of intelligent French agricul¬ 
turists, ranks at lea,st as high as these; but in my 
own humble opinion, is unsurpassed in most points 
of excellence by any sheep I have as yet seen. I 
refer to the flock of Y. Gilbert, who resides in the 
Department of Oise and Seine, par Maule, some 
thirty miles from Paris. This flock was commenced 
by the father of M. Gilbert, about 40 years ago, and 
has been improved by judicious selections and oc¬ 
casional drafts from the Rambouillets and other 
flocks of equal celebrity. The great points of ex¬ 
cellence, so peculiar to his flock, consist in their 
unsurpassed beauty and symmetry of form, with 
large size, and wonderful production of wool. I 
saw bucks here which produced the past year 
18 lbs. of wool, and of a very fair quality. Their 
age was two years old past. I selected, with the 
intention of importation, a yearling buck, which I 
considered the finest specimen of the sheep kind I 
have ever seen. This animal had taken the first 
premium the past year at the great Sheep Fair of 
France, at St. Germaine. He was of large size, 
and unequalled in form, being then seventeen 
months old, and weighing 215 French pounds 
(about 230 lbs. English). His fleece weighed 16 
lbs. in the grease, and was of a quality that I feel 
assured, would command in this country 40 cents 
per lb, at this present moment, or perhaps more, clean 
washed. The price of this animal may be regarded 
as exorbitantly high—$400; but when it is consid¬ 
ered that he was much the best animal produced by 
this gentleman during the last ten years, and doubt¬ 
less possessing qualities so much superior to most 
of his race in France, the terms cannot be regarded 
as unreasonable. Unforeseen circumstances causing 
my return in July instead of September, as I had 
anticipated, alone prevented my bringing so valua¬ 
ble an acquisition with me for the improvement of 
our race of Merinos in this country ; and to my 
great regret, no pecuniary consideration could in¬ 
duce M. Gilbert to part with the animal before the 
close of the tupping season, which in his flocks is 
during the month of August. The annual sale of 
the produce of this flock takes place during the 
month of May, and the price they then bring varies 
according to their excellence, from 250 to 1000 
francs ; the ewes are very beautiful, and command 
about 100 francs each. The risk, and various 
items of expense in importing these fine animals 
into the United States is considerable, much more 
than one unacquainted with the business can form 
any idea. T. H. N. 
New York, Dec. 17, 1845. 
We are under great obligations to our correspon¬ 
dent for the above interesting article on French and 
Spanish Sheep, and will add, that his account of 
them is corroborated by several gentlemen from 
these countries with whom we have recently con¬ 
versed. Two of our friends, after viewing the 
French and Saxon Sheep, are now in Spain looking 
over the flocks there. They are excellent judges 
of sheep and wool, and will undoubtedly import a 
few choice animals the present year. On their re¬ 
turn to the United States we shall be furnished with 
full particulars of what they may have seen while 
abroad. We are persuaded that all we want now, 
is a slight dash of the best foreign blood among out 
noble native flocks,to make them equal to anything 
in the world as individuals, and far superior as amass. 
