326 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



tity" and the " yolk" of the fleece, cannot be ascribed to the chmate, nor 

 to the feeding itself. It is undoubtedly owin'jc to Mr. C.'s system of breed- 

 ing and s(dection, a point which will be fully discussed hereafter. 



If feed or condition exercise the principal influence on the fineness of 

 wool (that is, within the range of variation to which it is subject on the 

 same individuals), it follows that the effect may l)e produced in any climate, 

 for high condition throughout the year is attainable in the most rigorous 

 ones, by the supply of plentiful and rich food. The wool secretions are 

 incident on condition — fatness, however superinduced.* It again follows 

 that if wool of the h.ighest degree of fineness (for the breed) can be pro- 

 duced in New-York, although the sheep is kept in a decidedly fat state 

 throughout the year — quite as fat as it would become, grazing on green 

 feed all the year round — that wool of equal fineness can be produced by 

 the observance of the same influencing conditions (apart from feed) by the 

 southern breeder. 



Here agsin, undeterred by any considerations of what I deem a false 

 modesty, I shall offer facts founded on my own personal experience as a 

 sheep breeder ; and I Avould remark, once for all, that throughout thi3 

 whole of these letters I shall never so far prefer beliefs founded on the as- 

 sertions of others, to actual knoivledgc, based on facts repeatedly and con- 

 stantly brouyht under my personal inspection, for a number of years, as 

 to suppress the latter, to rely solely on the former. 



I have succeeded, in repeated instances, in producing an excjuisite qual- 

 ity of wool, decidedly above the average of the breed (Merino) in the 

 heavy fleeces of sheep kept fat the year round. I have made it a sort of 

 a test latterly, in the selection of rams, to choose only those which not 

 only caiTy heavy fleeces, in any condition, but which, in the highest, yield 

 a wool equaling the choicest samples to be found on this variety. These 

 facts will, by and by, be placed in a definite and tangible form, by the re- 

 corded testimony of the scales and the microscope. 



But though the natural effects of warm climates and their incidents, to 

 increase the bulk or coarseness of the fibre, is one which can easily be I'e- 

 sisted, they work a change of another kind in the character of wool. They 

 cause a longer fibre and a greater softness of staple. The effect of succu- 

 lent nutriment during the year in increasing the amount of the wool will 

 exhibit itself; but the skill of the breeder can so far regulate its action, 

 that the increase is in the length, rather than in the diameter or bulk of the 

 fibres. It is not difficult to conjecture why a staple of more rnpid growth, 

 supplied to excess with the secretions which enter into its composition, un- 

 exposed to great and rapid variations of temperature, should retain a 

 greater degree of softness than one produced under opposite conditions. 

 But, whatever the causes of these phenomena, theii- existence is placed 

 beyond a doubt. 



The increased Irns^th of staple, resulting from the nutriment of warm 

 climates, has been sufficitmtly advi.-rted to. The following statements made 

 by some of the most eminent wool-factors, staplers, etc. in England, before 

 a Committee of the House of Lords, in 182S, place the other point beyond 

 controversy.! 



Mr. Henry Hughes, wool-broker, London, says : 



* No ono has asserted, bo far as I am informcil, that dry feed will produce less wool than cToen feed, if 

 the Boine decree of fatness is kept u]!. On the other hand, the ricli cereal iiraius, oil-cnke. &c. (withoat 

 some of which a hijjh di.'i;ree of fulness ciuinot be inaititained, on dry feed alone, durina the four or five 

 months' winter in latitudes north of 4-J'), might be supposed to be quite as conducive to the production of 

 wool as glasses. 



t For extended minutes of thi.s very interesting invcstiLiition into the state of the wool-trade, &.C. &c. ia 

 Great Britain, see bischot}' on Wool, SiC, vol. ii. p. 118 to iUO. 

 (662) 



