I 77 1 
inade van oils attempts to introduce Spanish slieep/ 
in 1766, a number were imported and distributed 
among the people of different districts^ But as the 
general opinion was, that Spanish sheep could only 
thrive in Spain, that the wool would degenerate if 
they .did not travel from the plains to the moun¬ 
tains, aiid from the moantains to the plains* And 
above all as the peasantry thought, that what they 
deceived without price could ;be of little worth, no 
attention was paid to keeping the race distinct, an4 
of course little advantage resulted from the meas¬ 
ure, except to a few enlightened farmers : But their 
experiments suffciently proved the practicability of 
the project, and determined the government to 
make the attempt again, and to put the direction of 
the project into the hands of a distinguished agri¬ 
culturalist. 
AppticAtloit was made to the king of Spain for 
permission to draw from his dominions a number of 
merinos, the name by which the fine wooll^d sheep 
are distinguished. He not only permitted this, but 
ordered that they should be chosen out of the finest 
flocks in the kingdom. In the year 1786, they ar¬ 
rived at Rambouillet, the national farmL, instead 
of giving away the increase as had before been 
done, they were annually sold, which of course put 
them into the hands of the richer and more intellil 
gent farmers. At first they brought a very mode¬ 
rate price, but their superiority over the other sheep 
of the country, the great improvement in the wool 
