64 SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



to return to the proper medium by using long-wooled bucks of a 

 good stock. I think the Cotsvvolds the best for this purpose. 



The points of the Merino which have led to its preference among 

 our sheep keepers are undoubtedly its hardiness and capacity to 

 thrive on poor pasturage, like ours, its compactness of fleece, which 

 gives it power to resist the coldness of our climate, — its quietness, 

 staying within the bounds of any reasonable fence, and never scal- 

 ing stone walls until it has become demoralized by associating with 

 our long-legged racers, — its longevity, maintaining its prime qual- 

 ities till 6 years old, and lastly, the unequalled fineness of its fleece. 



What is called the felting property in wool, that which gives 

 strength to the spun thread, and closeness to the woven cloth, is due 

 to the peculiar construction of the. fibre. Each filament of wool is 

 a hollow, semi-transparent tube, not smooth, but covered upon the 

 outer surface with pointed, leaf-shaped projections, which, viewed 

 upon the edges through the microscope, look like the teeth of a 

 splitting saw. These filaments are not straight, but curved in spirals 

 or whirls, and generally the number of curls is greatest in the 

 finest wools. By constant manipulation the hatter forces these 

 curls into each other, and then continues this pressure and percus- 

 sion until the teeth of one filament firmly bites into the inverted 

 teeth of the next, until the mass has assumed the compactness and 

 closeness of felt The same process is performed by the pressure 

 of fulling, whereby the projecting filaments of the thread are 

 matted together to form a close nap, which gives to cloth its 

 beauty and finish. The Saxon wool, which is the finest Merino, 

 has the most numerous curves in the filaments, and has been found 

 to have 2,120 serrations or teeth to the inch. The South Down 

 wool has fewer curves and 2,080 serrations to the inch. Leicester 

 wool is almost straight, and its serrations are 1860 to an inch. * 



I think it is indispensable to the successful management of a 

 flock, to separate the lambs from the ewes in August, and to ex- 

 clude the bucks until December, when the flock is brought up to 

 the barn for fodder. By suffering the lambs to suckle their moth- 

 ers through the whole season, it is found that they gain nothing 

 above what they would get if weaned and made to depend upon 

 pasturage at a time when it is abundant, and will foi'm in fat and 

 flesh all that the stomach can assimilate. No one can have wit- 



* Morrell's American Shepherd. 



