190 State Board ok Agriculture, &c. 



blood vessels and nerves of the skin, and these nw, in a 

 manner, enveloped and covered h\ it. Beneath is the cutis, 

 or true skin, composed of innumerable mimite fibi'es cr»^ss- 

 ing each other in every direction, highly elastic in order to 

 fit closely to the parts beneath, and to yield to the various 

 motions of the body. Judging from the mixture of wool 

 and hair in the coat of most animals, it is' thought by some 

 that the primitive sheep had a hairy covering. It is said 

 that there are at the pi'esent day varieties of sheep that are 

 clothed outwardly with liair of different degrees of fineness, 

 and underneath the external coat is a softer, shoi'ter and 

 closer one, that answers to tlie description of fui-, but whic^li re- 

 ally possesses all the characters of wool . It is therefore higl dy 

 improbable that the sheep, which has now become, l)y cul- 

 tivation, the wool bearing animal, sliould, in any country, 

 have ever been entirely destitute of wool. Sheep of almost 

 every variety have at tiines ])een in the gardens of the 

 Zoological Society of London, but there has not been one 

 on which a portion of crisped wool, although exceedingly 

 small, has not been found at the bottom of the hair. The 

 filament of the wool has scarcely pushed itself through the 

 pores of the skin, when it has to penetrate through another 

 and singular substance, whicli, fi"om its adhesiveness and 

 color, is called the yolk. It is found in greatest quantity 

 about the bi-east and shoulders, the very parts that produce 

 the best and most abundant wool, and in proportion as it 

 extends to any considerable degree over other parts, the 

 wool is then improved. It differs in (piantity in different 

 breeds ; it is very abundant in the Merino. 



The yolk being a true soap, soluble in water, accounts 



