[221] 



BUT THEIR CROWNINF VALUE IS THEIR WOOL OR MOHAIR. 



At a meeting of the officers of the Kentucky State Agri- 

 cultural Society, and many other gentlemen, samples of all 

 the textile materials of that class were exhibited and exam- 

 ined, and discussed at length, and the Angora wool was 

 conceded to be the most beautiful, durable and valuable 

 material of them all. While it can be produced at a less 

 cost, by us, than any of the others, it will also bring more 

 money per pound, the full- blood wool not being scarcely 

 distinguishable from the pure-bred and the imported. It is 

 white, lustrous, wavy (not curly or in a screw), elastic and 

 strong, with properties which enable it to resist decomposi- 

 tion (from any cause) better than any other textile material, 

 receiving and retaining chemical and other dyes better than 

 any other, and felting so kindly that this property is used 

 in the manufacture of some of its most costly and beautiful 

 products; and so much so that the breeders must shear 

 promptly at the shedding season, or it will felt on the backs 

 and sides of the animals, as every breeder has experienced. 



A complete and extensive collection of small samples of 

 all the principle wools of commerce, both plain and under 

 several colors, arranged in a gilt frame, and under glass, 

 together with several skins of goats, and of the " Improved 

 Kentucky " sheep, with the wool on them, were exhibited 

 by me at the National Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, 

 and a medal and diploma were awarded them. They have 

 since been deposited for exhibition in the State Agricultural 

 room in the Capitol in Frankfort. 



The American Institute at New York, and the United 

 States Agricultural Society at Philadelphia, and the State 

 Agricultural Society of Kentucky, adopted resolutions 

 highly commendatory of these animals for wool bearing, 

 and of their adaptation to the United States. The principal 

 wool merchants of the eastern cities have made repeated 



