of German Landowners in \S4\. 219 



repeated at nighty though with less form, persons coming in at 

 the hours most convenient to them, and supping in small detached 

 parties. After dinner, which lasted probably an hour and a half, 

 some of the sections again assembled ; others attended the exhi- 

 bition or trials of implements ; others, the gallery of fleeces, and 

 specimens of wools. The section of foresters, under their presi- 

 dent, made excursions to the neighbouring woods, where they 

 practically discussed the training of trees, &c. On the whole I 

 am inclined to think this was at once the most numerous section, 

 and that which created the greatest interest amongst the members 

 of the Society generally. 



The fleeces, to the number of 300, were exhibited in a spa- 

 cious tent, 150 feet long by 50 wide, placed upon tables, and most 

 judiciously arranged under the direction of Mr. Jeppe of Ro- 

 stock. It is impossible for a stranger to conceive the extreme 

 attention paid to this subject in Germany, where immense 

 flocks are reared for their wool alone, kept, during the greater 

 part of the year, in large barns, and so carefully attended, 

 that neither dew nor rain is allowed to fall upon them. In 

 the King of Saxony's flock, which I visited, I found wethers 

 kept to the age of nine or ten years, solely for the 2 lbs. of 

 wool which they annually yielded. If subjected to a varying 

 temperature, or checked perspiration, a knot is formed on the 

 staple, to which my attention was directed by a very strong mag- 

 nifying power, and which very materially deteriorates from the 

 value they attach to the article. Next to equality, fineness of 

 texture is the great desideratum ; and a beautiful machine has 

 been invented by Mr. Jeppe for the admeasurement of the thick- 

 ness of the wool, and the proof of its strength, which unites the 

 minute workmanship and delicacy of watch-work. By this in- 

 strument 100 hairs of each fleece, selected from nine different 

 portions of the body, forming an average of fineness, are subjected 

 to a given pressure, which is registered on a very minute index. 

 The result of one experiment, I was informed, was, that an 

 Austrian fleece had been produced, of which twelve hairs only 

 equalled in thickness one Leicester 1 The fleeces exhibited were 

 sent from Saxony, Hungary, Austria, and, in fact, from every 

 sheep district of Germany. 



In the museum attached were samples of every wool in the 

 known world, comprising even our most recently established co- 

 lonies, carefully washed, weighed, and sorted, with such remarks 

 as tended to illustrate the subject. 



The section of Agricultural Mechanics, comprising the exhi- 

 bition and trial of implements, was placed under the presidency 

 of Captain Stanley Carr, an honorary member of our Society, 

 whose residence for nearly twenty years in Germany, on a fine 



q2 



