PROPEB AMOUNT AND CONSISTENCY OF WOOL. 79 



saturation in half inspissated oil, and then daubed over extern- 

 ally with a coating of tar and lamp-black, never exhibit that 

 maximum of both length and density of wool which, with a 

 proper degree of yolk, produces the greatest aggregate weight. 

 Yolk has been generally thought to be the pabulum of wool 

 and if so, its excessive secretions, as a separate substance, may 

 diminish its secretions in the form of wool. Be this as it 

 may, the fact I have stated stands without an exception. And 

 animals exhibiting this marked excess of yolk, are invariably 

 feebler in constitution, less easily kept, and especially less 

 capable of withstanding sevei'e cold. Such excessive secre- 

 tions appear, then, to cause, or else to be the results of an 

 abnormal or defective organization. For these reasons, these 

 comparatively worthless animals, ortce so eagerly sought, have 

 already gone out of use among the best informed breeders; 

 and where they linger, it is, like antiquated fashions, in 

 regions where the current ideas of the day penetrate slowly ! 

 There should be enough fluid yolk within the wool on the 

 upper surfaces of the body, to cover every fiber like a brilliant, 

 and, in warm weather, like an undried coat of varnish but 

 not enough to fill the interstices between them, so that the 

 fleece shall appear, as it sometimes does, to be growing up 

 through a bed of oil. And if there is a sufficiency of yolk 

 above, it must be expected that underneath where the fleece 

 is less exposed to evaporation and the washing of rains, and 

 to which part gravitation would naturally determine a fluid 

 substance, a considerably greater quantity of it will be found. 

 But hardened or pasty masses of it within the wool are to be 

 avoided, on all parts of the body. A portion of the fluid 

 yolk will necessarily inspissate or harden on the outer ends of 

 the wool. It is proper that it should sensibly thicken those 

 ends, and clot them together in small masses on the upper 

 parts of the body forming a coat considerably thicker, 

 firmer and harder to the hand than would the naked wool, 

 and quite rigid when exposed to cold; but it should not 

 cover the wool in rounded knobs, or in thick, firmly adhering 

 patches, bounded by the fleece cracks sticking to the hand 

 in hot weather like a compound of grease and tar, and in cold 

 having a "board-like" stiffness. Underneath, for the same 

 reasons given in reference to inside yolk, a greater quantity of 

 it must be tolerated. It should stick the masses of wool 

 together in front of the brisket and scrotum, and large 

 rounded knobs of it inside the legs and thighs and on the 

 back side of the scrotum, are considered desirable. 



