14: FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



at half a pound less, but of the ewe's the same. The 

 Spanish system of washing alluded to, was much more 

 perfect than our own. Brook-washed, on the back, 

 in the American way, the shrinkage would not have 

 exceeded one-third.* 



These are but general averages, and do not indicate 

 the weight of fleeces of prime animals. The King of 

 England's nock of ]N~egretti's, about one hundred in 

 number, yielded during five years (1798-1802) an 

 annual average of 3^f f pounds of brook-washed wool, 

 and 2 ^|^ pounds of wool scoured for manufacturing.f 



Some of 'the Spanish sheep first imported into the 

 United States yielded still more wool, if well-preserved 

 tradition can be credited ; but I have not been able 

 to find any precise records of weighing, except in re- 



* If I have not made this distinction, in previously published papers 

 on this subject, it was because I entirely overlooked the fact. The 

 Spanish wools, after being shorn, are beaten on hurdles to remove 

 loose dirt, then placed in a vat of hot water and stirred about five or 

 six minutes, then put into the head of a trough or aqueduct of cold 

 running water, and trampled on and rubbed by men's feet as they 

 pass slowly through. They are next drained on an inclined plane 

 and spread on the grass to dry. But four to seven per cent, of yolk 

 is left in them. One-third 'of gross weight is the usual amount of de- 

 duction on our American unwashed wools, to put them on a par with 

 our brook-washed wools. 



{ The flock included a very small number of wethers (the number is 

 not given) and no" ranis. To exhibit the sorting of the Spanish wools 

 of that day, by the English mode, I subjoin the following table : 



1798.. 



1799. 



1800.. 



1801.. 



1802.. 



I have drawn these facts from Sir Joseph Banks' s five annual re- 

 ports in relation to His Majesty's flock. 



