CHAPTER XXXI. 



WOOL AND ITS GROWTH. 



The technicalities of the wool trade do not appeal to 

 the ordinary sheep farmer. He can, however, gather 

 information in respect to the treatment of his sheep from 

 a simple study of the common points of interest attached 

 to and surrounding wool that has left the sheep's back. 

 He can note from the remarks and criticisms passed 

 upon wool as it passes on to the manufacturer that pro- 

 per husbanding of his flock is essential to the satisfactory 

 growth of a fleece. He can realise that wool is but the 

 product of the soil, less perishable than food or grass, 

 and that equivalent care is necessary in the cultivation 

 of the fleece as in the securing of a satisfactory agricul- 

 tural crop. He can also observe that when the condi- 

 tions tending to a valuable growth of fleece are lacking 

 the general bodily and mutton welfare of his sheep will 

 also show shortcomings. He can note such things that 

 the less densely covered longwool breeds do not with- 

 stand climate asperities so well as the denser woolled 

 Merino and Downs breeds. 



Every sheep farmer desires to grow good wool in 

 preference to inferior. The nearest thing approaching 

 and comparable to wool is hair, and inferior wool may 

 be likened to hair, either coarse or thin and poor. To 

 conceive the relationship and yet the great difference 

 between wool and hair is of advantage. Where sheep 

 are well bred there is an absence of hair or kemp in the 

 fleece, but badly bred or inattended they grow a good 

 deal of hair, which much depreciates the value of the 

 fleece. Allow any breed of sheep to revert to a natural 

 wild state and it would not be long before it developed 

 hairy tendencies. The proper husbanding of the animal 

 makes for wool production in contrast to a hairiness if 



