The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1852-05-19
For the Middlcbury Register
Foundation of the French Merine.


vators. busted himself in his youth in
raising Sheep In l7S6, the Queen of
Spain made present to the King Of
France of flock of ewes and bucks. Sc
lected from the very best merino blood in
the country Half of this flock was sent
to Rambouillet, where it still exists The
other half was cedcd by the King to a
proprietor. NJ dc Chenorier. who placed
them on his farm at Croissy. about four
leagues from Paris At this date my
father was twenty-seven years of age As
soon as he heard Of the arrival of the
flock, he went to see them, and renewed
his visits yearly, to assure himself if our
climate would agree with this new breed
land to learn their produce of wool and
flesh. as compared with the native breeds
when he became convinced that the eli
mate agreed with this new race, and that
they offered great advantage from the
quality Of wool obtained as well as for
their flesh. compared with the then ex-
isting breeds in France lie purchased
at the first sale of the produce of
these sheep, which took place at Croissy
in 1900 one ram and eight ewes. The
ram was four years old. and weigh
ed l2j pounds and carried y pounds of
wool, and the ewes averaged Q pounds
in its pure, unwashcd state. lie contin-
ued to buy yearly from two to four sheep
until 1910 In 1911, he bought 80 ewes
and ) ram lambs I'm 1918. he bought
"a ewes At this date the whole flock
was sold at Croissy. at an average Of
from l20 to 500 francs each.
The pasturagc at Croissy was much
better than that at Rambouillct. and the
flock superior This is why my father
made his acquisitions here in preference
to those at Rambouillet In 1921. he
bought buck of Rambouillet Not
withstanding these two ilocks were of
the same family. he obtained great ad
vantage by an alliance of blood, of the
flock Of Rambouillet with his, being Of
the same lincal descent. but complete
separation having taken place since 1856
between the two flocks From 1921 to
1929, he bought five bucks at Rambouil-
let At this epoch, my father ccdcd to
me his entire flock of mcrinos which
numbered 20o ewes from three to six
years old l76 ewes from one to two
years and 90 ycarling bucks In 1872
| bought the 50 ewes submitted at the
public sale at Ramboullet Since then
| have bought several ewes and rams to
maintain the renewal Of blood of my
flock, at times necessary. In choosing
reproductors in animals. the best conform
ed, bearing the greatest quantity of the
best quality of wool, was my guide, and
by this constant care and study | have
realized from my best rams twenty four
pounds and from my ewes eighteen
pounds of fleece wool
The good direction given by my faith
er to his flock acquired him the greatest
reputation throughout France No per-
son from the States visited our flock pre-
vious to the llth of May, 1916 Then
we had the pleasure of a visit from Mr.
John \. Taintor of Hartford, to whom |
sold two rams and seven ewes Since then
| have continued each year to effect ship
ments Of rams and few ewes to Mr..
Taintor, who succeeded in making this
breed prosper in America. as it has in
France | have also had the satisfaction
of visit from Mr. Isaac de Forrest of
New York. Mr. Sanford of Orwell. Yer
mont, and Mr. 5 W Jewett, of Middle
bury, Vermont. To the latter. sold, in
ISL 50 ewes and Is bucks In 1852,
| sold him "a ewes, and to deliver in
1888, | have sold him 90 ewes | also
received Il visit from Mr. Parker and
Mr. Howard of Champaign, Ohio, to
whom | could not sell any ewes this year
or next, to their great regret
From the various essays made by my
father to improve the merino breed and
those which | have continued to effect on
the same principles, we have arrived at
the conclusion, that in order to improve
the breed. we must not allow our ewes
to yean lambs till three years old and to
use no bucks until they had arrived at
full maturity. 1t was necessary to feed
them upon sound land dry in preference
to damp pasturage; and to renew the
blood of the flock every five or six years /
If You are longer in renewing it, one can .
maintain the same quality in his flock, F.
but cannot ameliorate it We separate
the ewes into as many lots as we have
bucks, taking particular caution not to
use a ram of any defect to ewes of the
same defect BY these means thorough
ly executed we arrived at the improve
ment Of the race.
We did not decide upon exhibiting our
Aocks for the prize until 1874, when the
Agricultural Assembly at Paris appoint
ed a commissioner to visit the best focks
in our country As soon as the Com
missioners made their report, the Min
ister of Agriculture granted me the
great gold medal In ls45, the Agricul-
tural Assembly met at Gregnon. sent
there $50 ewes and bucks for exhibition.
The first prize was accorded me and my
father, who was then Sc years cid, and
received it from the hands of the Duke of
Nemours, conducted by my two sons.
To the general concourse, which took
place at Versailles in 1851, | and my
colleague, Monsieur Cugnot, sent each of
us three rams, aud the first premium was
granted us.
NIcroR GILBERT
ITT4crH', CommiH dc Crcspicres,
SciRe ct Oise,
lc Aprl 1852