SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 11 



tasse (density of staple). The modifications which the staple of wool 

 presents in this respect are only apparent. By increasing the length of 

 the hairs, the precocity necessarily increases that of the locks of wool 

 which they form, which makes the fleece appear less dense." 



The views here presented, we admit, would not be accepted 

 by the majority of our breeders. But all will admit that any 

 tendency of warm climates (if such exists) to make wool 

 coarser can be easily counteracted by judicious breeding. 



In connection with the question of the effect of climate on 

 the fineness of wool fibre, we may appropriately quote a 

 breeder of great reputation in Tennessee, but whose flocks 

 were in Mississippi. His statement is old ; but the more valu- 

 able, since the culture of fine Saxon sheep has now almost 

 wholly ceased in this country. Mr. Mark R. Cockerill, in a 

 letter published in the " American Farmer." 



" I have about 1,000 head of fine sheep. . . . My Saxon sheep were 

 imported in 1824 or 1826, I cannot say which, and I find as yet 

 no falling off in the quantity or quality of their fleeces : on the contrary, 

 I believe, a little improvement in both points, and a little more yolk 

 when well provided for ; which, you know, does .not much abound in the 

 Saxon breed. In addition, the fleeces are a little more compact than 

 formerly, hence more weight ; and, from our mild climate, the staple 

 has become longer. I assert that the cotton region I am now in 

 (Madison County, Mississippi), in about 32 north, is better than any 

 country north of it, to grow wool, as the sheep can be kept all the time 

 grazing, by sowing small grain ; for, if grazed off, it quickly grows again 

 in a few days. And the wool of the fine Saxon sheep in this climate is 

 softer and more cotton-like than any I have ever seen, although I have 

 samples from all parts of the world. I have travelled from this very 

 place to Boston, sampling all the sheep of note on the way ; and I have 

 found nothing on my journey, or at Boston, as good as the wool I have 

 grown ; and so said all the wool-staplers whom I met with, and they 

 were not a few. I presume, in reality, that the blood of my sheep was 

 no better than many I saw ; but the superiority of my wool I ascribe to 

 our climate, and the provision for the sheep of succulent food the year 

 round." 



Having examined the volume of awards of the Exhibition 

 at London of 1851, commonly called the World's Fair, we 



