1030 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



strated its relative capacity for the production of wool and mut- 

 ton. It is important to conduct the draft on correct principles. 

 Many farmers argue that they will bring the weight of the fleece 

 up to a desired standard, and afterward breed for a long fiber; 

 but this puts the cart before the horse. The production of a 

 good stapled, deep grown fleece (in the Merinos), is of the first 

 importance. Let the -matter of weight absolutely take care of 

 itself. The more wool, the more weight. Yolk is utterly val- 

 ueless in the fleece except as a softener and preserver of the 

 fiber, and a sheep that is thoroughly healthy, vigorous, and 

 properly cared for, will produce all of it which is requisite. To 

 cultivate it beyond that is a clear fraud, which, in the long run, 

 will not prosper. That "density" which is so admired by mnny 

 is in a majority of cases a delusion, because it is only yolk. It 

 is customary to say that a long staple can be secured only at the 

 expense of density, but this is erroneous. Sheep of equally 

 pure blood have differing aptitudes. One will have an abnor- 

 mal tendency toward the secretion of yolk, which takes place at 

 the expense of the fiber, rendering it short and comparatively 

 weak. The other almost invariably the hardier of the two 

 secretes less yolk and more, that is, longer, fiber. An eminent 

 expert once said to the writer, he did not care how much yolk 

 there was in wool, if the latter was white ; meaning thereby 

 that if the minute cylinder of yolk which invests each fiber like 

 a sheath remained so thin as not to conceal the color of the 

 staple it was not possible for it to be in excess. 



Hence, in the draft those animals ought to be marked for 

 withdrawal and sale which are, first, deficient in constitution ; 

 second, gummy and short fibered. It is generally the heavy, 

 yolky wooled ones which die, while those of voluminous, white, 

 elastic fleeces, which make a great armful, posess an abounding 

 vitality. The rejection of a sheep merely upon its failure to 

 produce a fleece of a given weight, is highly inartistic ; it is to 

 work by a coarse "rule of thumb." A good sheep to keep 

 should have a long fiber and a short leg; be low and stout, 

 with legs wide apart, etc. (See foregoing description of good 

 breeders.) 



