158 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



site ratio, the wool will rapitlly dogcnerate into its 

 ])rimitive coarseness. 



Four qualities of wool are c'ligtinguishable in 

 the fleece of the same aiiiinal. The finest is upon 

 the spine, from the neck to vvitliin six inches of 

 the tail, including one third of the breadth of the 

 hack oi saddle ; this kind is called by the S;)an- 

 iards Florctt.x. 'I'he second quality covers the 

 flanks, and extends from the thighs to the shoul- 

 rlers. The third covers the neck and the rump; 

 and the fourth is upon the lower part of the neck 

 and breast, down to the feet, as also upon part of 

 the shoulders anJ thighs, down to the bottom of 

 the hind quarters ; the S|)aniard3 call this portion 

 Cayda, The sorting of these four qualities takes 

 ]>lace immediately after the shearing, by tearing 

 asunder the several portions, and throwing each 

 into a se})arate bin. 



The hardness of some of the English wools 

 does not depend entirely on the rafce, or the cli- 

 mate, but on certa n peculiarities in the soil which 

 affect the pasture. The Saxony sheep, being 

 exposed to a less ardent sun than the Spanish, 

 yield a softer fleece. Sheep pastured on the Che- 

 viot Hills in Northumberland, though not of the 

 finest wooled English breed, yield fleeces of re- 

 markalde softness, and have been I'efined still 

 more by artificial means, jjarricularly by smearing 

 the sheep with an tinguent comi)osed of tar and 

 butter, immediately after shearing them. The 

 grease or yolk of the fleece is a species of soap 

 secreted by the sheep, and consisting of oil with a 

 little potash. Hence it serves to facilitate the 

 scouring of wool hy means of water alone, with 

 which it forms a kind of sud or emulsion. It is 

 most abundant in those breeds which grow the 

 softest fleeces, and on the part of tlie back covered 

 with the finest wool. Ihe yolk, however, though 

 favorable to the growing fleece, becomes injurious 

 to it after it is shorn, and ought to be immediately 

 removed, otherwise it will produce a fermenta- 

 tion in the wool heap, and render it liard and 

 brittle, a change which takes place most rapidly 

 ill hot weather. 



The long-wooled sheep of England are of four 

 breeds: the Dishley or new Lei('estershire ; the 

 Lincolnshire; the 'i'ees- Water, and the Dartmoor. 

 Our races of short-wooled sheep. are principally 

 the Dorsetshire, Hei-tfordshire, and South Down. 

 The imported wools are almost entirely worked 

 on the card, the coarser into carpets. Of late 

 years, a wool of the merino fleece has been grown 

 to great advantage in New South Wales, and im- 

 |jorted in great quantities. It is fully equal to the 

 best Spanish merino. 



The English clothing wool has altered for the 

 worse in its quality for the last ten years. There 

 is a difference of one shilling a yard between 

 cloths made of the two wools at the same price. 



The English wool also wastes five pounds in the 

 score, and the other only two and a half pounds 

 by loss of animal grease. 



The advance in foreign wools is owing in a 

 great measure to the increase of the manufacturers 

 on the continent, esfiecially in Belgium, and to 

 tiie .successful competition of the gootls of the lat- 

 ter with the English in the Grecian Archipelago. 



There is no wool which spins so well as the 

 improved Australian does, in consequence of the 

 length of its staple and its softness ; and it has in- 

 creased so much in quantity of late, that in the 

 cruirse of fifteen years it will probably suffice for 

 the supply of all the import wool to ourmanufac- 

 tiireis, to tbe exclusion of the Spanish and Ger- 

 man wools, ft is also better for combing purposes 

 than any other description, and it is at present 

 altogether consumed in the finest worsted good-s, 

 such as merinos and cassinets. 



England grows about 995,000 packs, (of 240 lbs. 

 each,) and imports 66,000 bags a year. — Btirs 

 [English) Weckiij Mtssengcr, 



CAKROTS. 



Mil Editor. — As 1 have .seldom had the pleas- 

 ure of looking over the numbers of your very 

 useful |)aper, I am by no means certain that the 

 .subject of this article may not be familiar to your 

 readers; but presuming that " line ujion line," is 

 as applicable to agriculture as to morals, J am in- 

 duced to communicate the residts of my very 

 limited expei'ience in this branch of husbandry. 



T^e soil best adapted to the cultivation of the 

 carrot, is a dec}) sandy loam, imiformly ricli to 

 the depth that the root is expected to penetrate. 

 Corn or j)otatoes are a good preceding crop ; but 

 I am unable to say whether they will successfully 

 follow Ruta Baga. It has been asserted, with 

 what truth I know not, that corn should not fol- 

 low this turnip, it may be that this root, being a 

 hearty feeder, extracts from the soil more than a 

 fair proportion of some peculiar constituent of the 

 corn ])lant. The land should be deeply ploughed 

 ill the fall, and in the spring a good coat of well 

 rotted manure should be evenly spread upon the 

 surface and harrowed in. Cross-plough and har- 

 row smoothly ; and the application of a roller, 

 four or five feet in diameter, would greijtly im- 

 prove the preparation for this crop as well as for 

 most others. With a horse, plough the back-fur- 

 rows into ridges 1 1-2 to 2 feet apart ; then with 

 the head of a rake, or some simjlar instrument, 

 strike oft' the crown of the ridges until they are 3 

 or 4 inches in width, and niakea drill an inch deep 

 in any manner that the ingenuity* of the operator 

 may suggest. The seed is then sown pretty 

 thickly along the drill, and covered either with a 

 rake head, or light hand roller, so as to be slightly 

 pressed down, — as soon as the plants are well up. 



