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tution,and if kept so for a number of years in succession, will run them 

 down into a diminutive little animal. Extremes should be avoided. 

 Many of our wool-growers keep their sheep part of the year in a fleshy 

 condition, which generally is in summer, and during the other part let 

 them grow poor. This course of treatment is very injurious to both 

 animals and wool. When shorn, such wool appears of a better quality 

 than it actually is, and deceives those who are not judges of the article. 

 There are, in fact, two different qualities in the same staple (in the 

 length of it) ; the growth during the first part is coarser than during 

 the latter, and though it appears finer, yet it is not so strong, but is 

 feeble and makes an uneven fabric. If sheep are kept too poor they 

 produce a wool, poverty-stricken, and though it appears very fine and 

 of superior quality, yet it is deceptive, and the quality is not so good 

 as if the same sheep had been kept in good and thriving condition ; it 

 is deficient in elasticity, strength, and the felting properties, and is fee- 

 ble ; the cloth itself made from such wool, is feeble, and frequently 

 tears before it is finished. 



Wool from diseased sheep is poorer still : the quality is greatly in- 

 jured, is subject to waste in the process of manufacturing, and never 

 makes a perfect fabric, but makes a feeble cloth, which easily tears. 

 Wool from sheep that have died is likewise injured, for it seems to be- 

 come in a measure lifeless. Cloth made from such wool is said to be 

 much more subject to the depredations of the moth, than cloth made 

 from live wool, shorn from healthy sheep. This article is well under- 

 stood in Germany ; the manufacturers pay but two-third prices for such 

 wool. The discrimination in the selection of their wool is, probably, 

 the reason why the German cloths are so much stronger and more du- 

 rable than the English or American cloths. 



I repeat, therefore, that it is very important to keep sheep in good 

 and thriving condition the whole year round. And in order to do this, 

 they should have sufficient food to fill themselves twice a day. In this 

 country this is done on pasture and hay. In Germany the keeping of 

 sheep is based upon the same grounds, but it varies in many respects. 

 I will mention a few of the leading features. 



The Germans keep their sheep under comfortable shelter durinor the 

 winter. By this means they do not require, in the first place, so much 

 provender ; secondly, the tip ends of the wool do not get weather-beaten, 

 which is an injury ; thirdly, a great quantity of manure is saved. They 

 hurdle their sheep during summer for the purpose of manuring the 



