REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 353 



mers' Series of Useful Knowledge that two packs of sorted 

 wool being taken, possessing the same degree of fineness, but 

 the one having the soft quality in an eminent degree, and the 

 other being harsh, the cloth prepared from the first, at the same 

 expense, will be worth more to the manufacturer than the other 

 by full twenty-five per cent. The cause of this peculiar soft- 

 ness of pile, and the proper means by which it may be increas- 

 ed, are not fully known; but it is reasonable to suppose that 

 the quality of softness is dependant, in a great measure, on the 

 fineness of the fibre; the yolk, therefore, as it gives richness 

 and pliability, as well as nourishment, to the wool, exerts some 

 influence in promoting the softness of the pile. Every farmer 

 who has a flock of sheep should pay special attention to the 

 quantity and quality of that cardinal point in sheep, the yolk. 

 Bad management, or poor keep, by arresting the secretion of 

 the yolk, or changing its properties, will, in a very great de- 

 gree, impair the pliability of the woolly fibre. 



The colour of wool is of minor, and yet of no triflingliin- 

 portance, according to YOUATT, who says that the alteration of 

 the colour was the first recorded improvement in the sheep 

 and its purity, its perfect whiteness, should never be lost sight 

 of in the present day. It must, however, be confessed that 

 the breeder is not, in every respect, as careful as he ought to 

 be. The fleece sometimes partakes of the colour of the soil 

 that is, to a certain extent on which the sheep is reared; 

 which is effected by particles of the soil mixing with the fleece 

 and gradually staining it of their own colour. All attempts 

 to give colour, according to fancy, by the use of ochre or other 

 matter is highly absurd. 



IV. DIFFERENT VARIETIES OR BREEDS OF SHEEP. 



THE United States, from its great diversity of soil, surface, 

 and climate, possesses advantages for the successful prosecution 

 of sheep husbandry, unsurpassed, if equalled, by any other 

 country. Many sections of the country are undulating the 

 hills mostly covered with fine herbage enclosures extensive 

 and unequalled almost every pasture furnished with running 

 water, and sheltered more or less by trees from the summer 

 sun, with other very great and important advantages, render 

 the United States, and even some portions of Canada, highly 

 favourable to the most prosperous culture of sheep. The wool 

 produced in this country that is, the best, and which has the 

 management throughout of competent persons, possesses every 



