SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 9 



cattle suffering and refusing nourishment during periods of 

 excessive heat in the Northern summers, it may seem incon- 

 ceivable that sheep should not be unfavorably affected by 

 the hot summers of the South. But it should be remembered 

 that the summer heat of the South is tempered by the breezes 

 blowing from the Gulf; and that, at New York, in midsum- 

 mer, the days are very nearly one hour longer than at Savan- 

 nah, and the nights correspondingly shorter : consequently, 

 at New York, there is one hour longer for the heat to accu- 

 mulate from the direct rays of the sun, and one hour less time 

 in the night for the accumulated heat to be carried off by 

 radiation. From these two causes, the summer heat is never 

 so excessive in Southern as in Northern latitudes. 



But it is asserted that warmth of climate, while promoting 

 the quantity of wool produced, enlarges the fibre, making 

 the wool coarser. This was the opinion of Dr. Randall, and 

 is still generally adopted. He says : " There can be but little 

 doubt that the pelage of the sheep becomes finer in cold 

 climates, and coarser in warm ones." He sees the causes of 

 this phenomenon in the greater amount and quality of the 

 nutriment received by the animal in warm climates, which 

 maintain in greater activity those secretions which form wool, 

 and that increase the quantity and weight of the fleece. 

 The weight, he thinks is increased by increasing the length 

 and thickness of the separate fibres ; just as plants put 

 forth longer and thicker stems on rich soils than poor ones. 



The popular belief that wool becomes coarser in warm 

 climates is strengthened by the admitted fact, that sheep, 

 originally covered with hair and an undergrowth of wool, 

 when introduced into very hot climates within the tropics in 

 time become covered with hair alone ; the wool, as is sup- 

 posed, being converted into hair. This supposition is not 

 correct. The wool part of the fleece is not changed : it is 

 lost. Mr. George W. Bond, an eminent expert in wool, has 

 recently exhibited, to a scientific society, skins of Arabian 

 sheep, some of them covered with hair alone, and others 

 having similar hair, but with a thick undergrowth of wool. 

 The fibre of the wool proved by test to be equal to that of 



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