woo 



woo 



519 



vernment had marked to be spared 

 for larger growth — without giving 

 any opinion, as to the propriety of 

 the direct interference of the go- 

 vernment on such a topic, we should 

 say that the example proves that 

 in the opinion of the French scien- 

 tific and practical men, it is expe- 

 dient, when wood lands are cut, 

 thai they should be cut smooth, in 

 order that the new growth might 

 start together, not overshaded by 

 other trees of larger growth. We 

 have no favourable opinion of the 

 utility of cutting down trees in a 

 scattered manner, as they appear 

 to fail, and still less of planting 

 acorns in thinner spots of the forest. 

 The growth thus produced must 

 remain forever feeble. 



WOOL, the covering of sheep. 



Each fleece consists of wool of 

 several different qualities. The 

 English and French usually divide 

 wool into three principal sorts; 1. j 

 that of the neck and back, which : 

 they call mother wool ; 2. that of j 

 the tails and legs ; 3. that of the j 

 breast and belly. These different i 

 kinds should not be mixed in spin- 

 ning. 



The two best qualities in wool 

 are length and fineness. 



To improve the wool of our 

 flocks, no lambs should be kept for 

 breeders, but such as bear the best 

 wool; and fine wooUed rams should 

 be procured from distant places, 

 or from foreign countries. 



It will also conduce to the im- 

 provement of the wool, if the sheep 

 are kept in dry pastures, upon short 

 and sweet grass in the summer, 

 and upon the best hay in the win- 

 ter. Great care should also be 



taken lo prevent their being over- 

 heated, either by obliging them to 

 feed in the hottest part of hot days 

 in summer, or by housing them in 

 too hot, small, and close places, at 

 any season. They should also be 

 kept, as much as possible, from 

 fouling their fleeces, by lying on 

 their excrements, without litter. 



The Spanish wool is preferred 

 to any other that is produced in 

 Europe. A writer in that country 

 says, " There are two kinds of 

 sheep in Spain, namely, the coarse 

 wooUed sheep, which remain all 

 their lives in their native country, 

 and which are housed every night 

 in winter ; and the fine woolled 

 sheep, which are all their lives in 

 the open air, which travel at the 

 end of every summer from the cool 

 mountains of the northern parts of 

 Spain, to feed all the winter on 

 the southern warm plains of Anda- 

 lusia, Manca, and Estremadura. It 

 has appeared from very accurate 

 calculations, that there are not 

 fewer than five millions of the fine 

 woolled sheep in Spain. Special 

 ordinances, privileges, and immu- 

 nities, are issued for the better pre- 

 servation and government of the 

 sheep, which are und,er the care of 

 twenty-five thousand men. These 

 sheep pass the summer in the cool 

 mountains of Leo, Old Castile, Cu- 

 enqa, and Arragon. The first thing 

 the shepherd does when the flock 

 returns from the south to its sum- 

 mer downs, is, to give the sheep as 

 much salt as they will eat. Every 

 owner allows his flock of a thou- 

 sand sheep twenty-five quintals of 

 salt, which the flock eat in about 

 five months. They eat none in 



