70 • Wool. 



buj-er next year ; while the farmer too frequently has not taken 

 advantage even of the few opportunities afforded of making 

 himself familiar with what would best meet the manufacturer's 

 requirements. Broadly the two interests are identical and 

 much is already being achieved by the Bradford Chamber of 

 Commerce and similar bodies in bringing these two interests into 

 unison. The following points are specially worthy of the sheep 

 breeder's attention as they represent the wool manufacturer's 

 requirements : — 



1. Unity of Type. — Individuals among the best flocks vary 

 considerably, and so far as possible those individuals which 

 produce the most uniform fleece in combination with the best 

 quality of wool should l)e selected for breeding purposes. 



Take for example a Romney Marsh flock : a glance will 

 show individuals bearing long, straggly, coarse wool on their 

 hind quarters while others will show a fairly uniform fleece all 

 over the body. The former should undoubtedly be weeded out. 



The writer well remembers dealing with this problem when 

 lecturing before the Bradford Wool Sorters in the presence of 

 a representative of the New South Wales Government who was 

 very much taken with the idea of a uniform fleece. After the 

 lecture, this gentleman specially commended this point to 

 the audience forgetting that the livelihood of these particular 

 workers was dependent upon the variations in wool fleeces, such 

 as he would have eliminated. With all due deference to the 

 wool sorters, however, such differences as are shown in Fig. 1 

 should be bred out if at all possible. 



Total individual variation even in the same flock is also to 

 be noted and it may be taken as a truism that that fleece which 

 is finest, silkiest, most lustrous, softest and curliest is the best. 

 Whether they be Lincoln or Down, stringy, dull, opaque, coarse 

 and hairy looking fleeces are to be condemned. Sheep produ- 

 cing fleeces with any tendency to a dark colour or worse still 

 with grey or black hairs intermingled with the dominant white 

 wool should be most rigorously condemned. 



2. Soundness of Staple. — Upon the whole this is more 

 dependent upon climatic conditions than upon breed, but from 

 personal experience of human nail growth during health and 

 illness we infer that to produce sound wool a healthy body 

 must be maintained ; and for this regular and suitable food 

 together with protection from sudden weather changes are very 

 advisable. It is possible that some breeds or rather crosses may 

 tend to produce faulty wools in this respect — Sydney wools, for 

 example, were noted for such defects — but as a rule it will be 

 found to be not a question of breed but of environment. 



3. Freedom from Vegetable Matter. — Vegetable and other 

 foreign matter may get into the fleece from the sheep being 



