COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL. ,; V S;, 



of the differences developed in different localities. Then: is still much more to be learnt, 

 but the breeders have now ceased to try for impossibilities, and are striving to work 

 with Nature, so as to produce the maximum results in each separate locality. Tin- 

 original merino type, owing chiefly to climatic causes, became distinctly modified in 

 Australia. The wool lost its harshness, and gained in length ami elasticity, but lost 

 somewhat in density. A distinct Australian type was thus formed, and the Australian 

 merino now produces the best wool for manufacturing purposes of any sheep in tin- 

 world. The size of the animal, too, is found to vary very much with the quality of 

 the herbage, dependent, perhaps, partly on the quantity of limestone in the soil. In 



DRYING WOOL AT A RECEIVING DEPOT. 



some districts where very fine wool is produced, the sheep fall off very much in size. 

 In others, where the wool is coarser, the sheep are large-framed, and make up in the 

 quantity of the wool what they lose in quality. Even the same animals moved from 

 one locality to another will, in a year or two, be found to have increased wonderfully 

 in frame, while at the same time the quality of the wool has undergone a change-. As 

 a rule, all excellences cannot be combined, and the best result is either the fullest develop- 

 ment of a speciality, or a judicious compromise. On the western slopes of New South 

 Yuiles the flocks produce a dense fleece of moderate length, great softness and elasticity, 

 and so fine that this wool can be spun into a thread of which one pound will stretch 

 for thirty-five miles. On the rich plains of the Riverina a much deeper growth is 

 obtained, and is now being largely used in America to mix with the harsher and less 

 combing character of wool produced in that country. Still farther to the West, owing 

 to the extreme heat and dryness in the climate, the wool becomes lighter and harsher, 

 and requires a constant change of blood to keep up the degree of excellence already 

 attained. Rams from the cooler hill-country, or from Tasmania, are annually imported. 

 Fencing-in the sheep-runs, and subdividing them into large paddocks, has had a 



