102 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
March. 
Origin of the Saxon Merinos. —The first in¬ 
troduction of Merino sheep into Saxony, was made 
in 1765. They were obtained by a grant from the 
King of Spain to the Elector of Saxony. 11 One 
hundred and nineteen ewes and one hundred and ten 
rams were selected principally from the Escurial 
flocks, then the King’s private property, under the 
care and management of the monks belonging to 
the monastery of that name, and which were con¬ 
sidered the finest sheep in the kingdom.”* Spanish 
shepherds went with the sheep, and remained till the 
Saxon shepherds could be instructed in the details 
of management. 
These sheep were bred with great care, under the 
direction of commissioners appointed by the Elector 
to superintend the management of his flock, and af¬ 
ter the expiration of twelve years, or in 1777, ano¬ 
ther importation was made from Spain, consisting 
of one hundred and ten rams and ewes. According 
to Mr. Grove, these were selected from the best 
flocks of Leon, Escurial, Negretti, Montarco, &c., 
and were of very superior quality. 
From these stocks, the pure Merino breed rapidly 
increased in Saxony, and was finally extended into 
the neighboring German states. Its progress was 
at first strongly opposed by the prejudices of the 
people; but by the perseverance of the Elector and 
other influential individuals it became perfectly na¬ 
turalised, and after the lapse of several years, the 
fleece of the Saxon was brought to a degree of fine¬ 
ness excelling the best Spanish. 
It is thus seen that the Saxon is identical in blood 
with the Spanish Merino—that the former were, in 
fact, derived from a selection of the finer specimens 
of the latter, and that the superior fineness of the 
wool of the Saxons is attributable to the system 
pursued in their breeding and management. And 
here the question arises—Could not such an improve¬ 
ment be made in this country as well as in Saxony? 
We answer, yes: there is no reason why the appli¬ 
cation of the same skill and care to the same mate¬ 
rials, should not produce the same results in Ameri¬ 
ca as in Germany. There is nothing in our climate 
or soil which naturally tends to the deterioration of 
the fleece; and in the hands of some of our wool- 
growers, the finest stoeks that have been introduced 
from Spain and Saxony, have maintained their 
standard for many generations. We have had the 
Escurial and other Spanish stocks, from which the 
finest Saxon sheep were derived; and where fine¬ 
ness of staple has been the object, their American 
descendants have possessed the quality, in a degree 
always proportionate to the skill to which they have 
been subjected. 
It does not, therefore, necessarily follow, that 
because sheep produce wool that is finer than ordi¬ 
nary Merino, they are Saxons, or that any of their 
ancestors came from Saxony. Wo might refer, by 
way of illustration, to examples in our own coun¬ 
try, such as the flock of the late W. R. Dickinson, 
of Steubenville, Ohio, and other flocks in Ohio, Vir¬ 
ginia and Pennsylvania, which were derived from 
this.f The great fact to be kept in view is, that 
the properties of animals, (including wool,) are mo¬ 
dified by the influences which are brought to bear 
on them—as food, climate, shelter, and especially 
the rules observed in the selection of stock for 
breeding. Thus the Merino sheep, in the course of 
* H. D. Grove. 
. 1 For an account of the origin of Mr. Dickinson’s flock, see Cul¬ 
tivator for 1848, pp. 10, 11. See also accounts of the origin of the 
nocks of Johu H. Ewing, Washington, Pa., Talbot Hammond, 
Brooke county, Va., and Jesse Edington, near Wellsburg, Ya.. iu 
trie American Shepherd , pp. 414, 419, 4y9, 
several generations, may be made to produce either 
finer or coarser, longer or shorter wool, than the 
original stock. It is not uncommon to find among 
the descendants of imported Saxons of the finest 
kind, sheep whose wool is coarser than much which 
passes under the name of Merino. There is evident¬ 
ly a tendency in the variety to return to its primi¬ 
tive condition—a tendency which the breeder, if he 
possesses the requisite knowledge and judgment, 
may overcome. 
The inquiry has been made, whether the shape or 
turn of the horns, affords any mark of distinction 
between the Saxon and Spanish sheep. We are not 
aware of any such distinction. The first Saxon 
sheep brought to this country, had generally wide 
spreading horns; many of those lately imported, 
have their horns curved close to their heads. It is 
well known that the turn of the horns in sheep and 
cattle, vary with the caprice or fancy of the breeder. 
The French or Rameouillet Merinos. —The 
breeds of sheep originally belonging to France, 
varied in character with the face of the country, 
and tho nature of the pasture; but until the intro* 
duction of the Merinos, they generally produced 
coarse wool. It might naturally have been expect¬ 
ed that as the country was only separated from 
Spain by the Pyrenees mountains, the valuable Me¬ 
rinos would have supplanted the breeds above men¬ 
tioned, at an early day; but such was not the case. 
In the beginning of the last century, however, the 
French statesman, Colbert, at his own expense, 
conveyed several Merinos across the mountains. 
Thirty years afterwards, a few more Merinos were 
introduced; but the prejudices of the people effect¬ 
ually prevented the spread of the breed ; and nothing 
important was accomplished towards their establish¬ 
ment in the kingdom till 1786, when the French go¬ 
vernment took up tho matter, and obtained in 
Spain 376 Merinos. They were selected, according 
to M. Gilbert, (as quotod by Livingston in his Es¬ 
say on Sheep,) from a great number of Spanish 
flocks in different parts of the kingdom. Sixty of 
them died on the passage. The remainder were sent 
to Rambouillet, about forty miles from Paris, where 
the government had an agricultural establishment 
devoted to fche improvement of domestic animals. 
Many of the sheep and lambs were destroyed by va¬ 
rious diseases in the course of the first year. 
Notwithstanding these disasters, the Rambouillet 
flock gradually increased. To facilitate the spread 
of the breed, a publication on the treatment of 
sheep, was drawn up by M. Gilbert, under the pa¬ 
tronage of the government; a practical school for 
the instruction of shepherds was instituted, and two 
other depots for Merinos were established. But 
with all these efforts, the introduction of the Meri¬ 
nos was comparatively slow; for when, (as stated 
by Youatt,) a census of the sheep in the kingdom 
was taken, twenty-five years after the establishment 
of the Rambouillet flock, there were thirty millions 
of the native breeds, and only two hundred thousand 
pure Merinos. What has been their comparative 
increase since that period, we have no means of as¬ 
certaining; but as the French people enjoyed a long- 
period of quiet and prosperity, and greatly increased 
their manufactures of every description, after the 
peace of 1815, it is reasonable to suppose that the 
Merinos are now extensively reared in the kingdom. 
The principal alterations which the Merinos ap¬ 
pear to have undergone in France, are increase in 
size, and in weight of fleece. What has been the aver¬ 
age increase in these respects, we have no data to 
show. Some which have been imported to the Uni¬ 
ted States., have weighed 200 lbs. each, and have 
