SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



183 



tations from which constitute so large a portion of this Letter. But both 

 subsequent experience, and information derived from other sources, have 

 ^convinced me of the erroneousness of this opinion. South-Down wool is 





SOUTH-DOWN RAM. 



essentially different from JMerino wool of any grade, though the fibre in 

 some of the finest fleeces may be of the same apparent fineness with half 

 or one-quarter blood Merino. 



The following cut from Youatt,* gives the microscopic appearance, 

 says that gentleman, of a " prime specimen of picklock South-Down 

 wool," 1 being viewed as a transparent, 

 and 2 as an opaque object." The fibre 

 is g-^th part of an inch in diameter. 



The cups or leaves of 2 " are roughened 

 iri'egular, and some of the leaves have ex- 

 ceedingly short angles," but they are far 

 sharper, more numerous and regular (the 

 .points which give wool its felting property) than in ordinary South-Down 

 wool. In the latter, the cups are rounded and have a " rhomboidal " in- 

 stead of that shai-]! and "hooked" character which distinguishes the INIe- 

 rino and Saxon. 



South-Down wool is deficient in felting properties. It makes a " furzy, 

 hairy " cloth, and is no longer used in England, unless largely admixed 

 with foreign wool, even for the lowest class of cloths. 



The following testimony was given by .some of the most eminent manu- 

 facturers, wool-factors, staplers, and merchants of England, before the 

 Committee of the House of Lords in 1828, several times previously al- 

 luded to : t 



YouBtt, p. 236. 

 (375) 



t See Bischoff, vol. ii. pp. 145 to 155. 



