FARMEliH' INSTITUTES. 237 



uing from roots to point. Each wool hair is hollow the »vhole length, and cov- 

 ered with little jagged points, and on the number and sharpness of these points 

 depend its felting properties. In the har.5h tleece less of them are found over 

 its surface, and those found on it are more blunt. 



Mr. Youatt discovered that in a fine iieece there are some 2,560 of these little 

 barbs in the space of one inch. These little barbs give it the property of being^ 

 spun into a thread of great strength, while the liarsh one will not so readily 

 knit together. The quickest way to become familiar with this difference is bv 

 examining and comparing the two with a magnifying glass. I well remember 

 the time when the idea of the greatest aniount of wool to the smallest carcass 

 took possession of the minds of our flock masters, and the consequence was 

 almost ruin to the best Hocks of the State. And the malady was not alone con- 

 fined to the limits of this State. It swept all over tiie land ; and I fear now 

 that the cry for long wliite wool will dispossess us of much value that we have 

 well fixed in many of our tlocks. It takes time for these changes ; but let pub- 

 lic opinion continue to cry for it, and we must yield to its demand more or less, 

 even though we are fully aware it nieans degeneracy. But thanks to those who 

 have passed througli the mill, so to speak, for coming to our relief with their 

 counsel to go carefully in tliis direction. Now, it is a fact well known to 

 breeders, that a ram of this class lias not been heard of as making any decided 

 improvement, except he be bred from a shorter and thicker fleeced ancestor. 

 A fleece may be three or four inches in length, and yet be of less value than 

 one two and a-half inches possessing a crimp which is capable of being drawn 

 out to a much longer and stronger thread than the long one. Pay a little 

 more attention to the quality of your fleeces and confine yourselves to a medium 

 length, and you will meet with greater success in the end. 



Color of fleece is of small importance compared with many other points, for 

 the white one may possess, and generally does, as much oil as any other, unless 

 you get one of the buttery yellow. 



The Spaniards bred for a buff tinge, and that was also Hammond's favorite 

 color, a man who has no doubt given the subject as much thought as any 

 breeder in America, and that is the opinion of the most successful breeders of 

 to-day. The color of a ram's fleece should differ from that of a ewe, as 

 nature has so fixed it. That of a ram should be more highly colored to l)uff, 

 and this appearance is given by the more hardened oil of a ram's fleece. That 

 of a ewe should possess more fluid oil, and consequently will appear more 

 Avliite. The skin should be loose on their bodies, capable of being moved 

 around over their back and side; color of skin pinkish, though this should not 

 be so highly colored in a ram as in a ewe. 



The relation of sheep to good farming is everywhere noticeable. Their mis- 

 sion for clearing land is not yet ended, even on many old farms ; for if you 

 wish to clear the woods a little farther back, or straighten that jagged side, 

 the sprouts will give way to their many nibbles. If you have none to clear, 

 your fence corners are tending to briars, weeds, or thistles. These cannot 

 survive where the farmer will sprinkle with salt sown broadcast over their 

 foliage on a wet or dewey morning, and turn in the sheep. I once cleared a 

 hedge row of willows which was very annoying to me by this process. But on 

 the more newly cultivated lands northward there is much hard work to be saved 

 by them. But I come now to the far greater value they are in the general 

 management of our farms. 



I am not an advocate of a summer fallow for sheep. It may sometimes be- 



