148 AGniCULTUrvAL MUSEfM 



an average value for unwashed. Wc should hope that: 

 this slovenly praer.iee, of selling woo! and filth together, 

 will now give place to a more desirable system. Three 

 pounds to a fleece appears a fair average. It is cer- 

 tainly enougli for the South. 



[/J ^e have Wool as fine. That we have some 

 wool, and native wool, as fine as that of England in 

 general, no doubt exists ; but this is very partially found 

 in our wide extended territory. Inattention, and the 

 promiscous intercourse of flocks, have greatly mixed- 

 the fine wool with the coarse; yet in mo^^t flocks somr 

 fine wooled samples are to be met with. The Smith's 

 Island is fine — probably fine wool was first placed there, 

 and there it still remains, in a long extended line from 

 generation to generation again, for the Island has re- 

 ceived no race from abroad. Most American Sheep 

 have three distinct wools upon the same carcass — The 

 neck and shoulder fine, the body gfood, and the hips 

 and thighs coarse. English Sheep are more uniform in 

 the quality of their v/ools. 



[ 0-] Few Sheep keep thier Prime longer than 7 Years . 

 Four years or the full mouth may be considered as th& 

 ripest age for Sheep. Ewes generally fail in milk after 

 this period, and wethers do not fatten so v* ell when 

 their teeth begin to wear. Six years would be a safe 

 age to prune a flock at, when ewes anrl wethers should 

 boih be prepared for the knife. It is essential, in rais- 

 ing improved Sheep, to examine the Ewes frequently,, 

 to ascertain whether they be good nurses, since many 

 ewes, to appearance v/eil looking, are but indiiTereni 

 milkers. 



[ /i ] Jt is rare for a Hue to Lamh itcicc a year. It i-- 

 rare, but sometimes lia; pens. J have known Ewes to 

 yean at almost all seasons Young Ewes which have 

 been kept from Ram, for a length of time, will some- 

 times receive him, at extra seasons, and produce accor. 

 dingly. It vefy seldom ocei!r5_, except with young Ewes, 



