C 7 ] 



and fo on they may be blended in infinitum; by 

 which means, in time, the diftinftive charafterifticks 

 of hair and wool may be entirely loft, and fleeces 

 be produced that are neither the one nor the other. 

 This feems to be precifely the cafe with moft of the 

 breeds of flieep in Britain at this dayj and we mufl 

 go, in fome meafure, out of the Ifland to recover the 

 genuine breeds; but which, if attended to, will en- 

 able us to account for various phenomena that have 

 puzzled many intelligent men. 



The moft uncontaminated breed of wool-bearing 

 ftieep I have as yet met with, is 'the Shetland breed, 

 and there the wool rifes fo entirely from the fkin, 

 about the beginning of June, as to render the ftiear- 

 ing of their fheep unneceffary. It may be plucked 

 off at that time without occafioning to the animal 

 the fmallcft uneafmefs, as it will fall off of itfelf if 

 not taken away; the young fleece fpringing up be- 

 neath it like a young ftiorn fleece. The fame phe- 

 nomenon is obfervable in all the breeds of flieep in 

 the northern parts of Scotland, where the proper 

 time for fliearing is always indicated by nature, and 

 muft be attended to. For although thefe flieep have 

 got fuch an intermixture with the hair-bearing race 

 as not to allow it to loofen quite fo entirely as that 

 of the Shetland breed ; yet it is loofened to fuch a 

 degree, that if the flieep are fliorn too foon, and 

 before the wool is properly rifen, as the phrafe there 

 is^ it is difficult to pafs the flieers through it, and 



the 



