WOOL DESCRIBED AND CLASSIFIED 67 



in their number, and the reverse of this is true of climates 

 cool to cold. These influences, however, act with measur- 

 able slowness. Individuals in the flock may differ consid- 

 erably from one another in the degree of the fineness of 

 the fiber. This, however, should not be a serious hin- 

 drance to present classification, although by selection in 

 breeding it may in time considerably modify the classifi- 

 cation, by improving it. 



Classification on the basis of diameter, as previously 

 intimated, divides wool into superfine, fine, intermediate 

 and coarse. But the line of change between these is not 

 absolutely and unchangeably settled, some of the reasons 

 for which are given above. 



It can scarcely be said that wools classed as super- 

 fine are produced to any considerable extent in America. 

 These are furnished largely by the Saxony and Silesian 

 breeds, which are not now and never have been numer- 

 ous in this country. It is true, nevertheless, that some 

 of the Merino wools produced in this country have 

 equaled in fineness the finest of the wools produced by 

 the breeds named. The finest Saxony and Silesian wools 

 have a diameter of fiber running from say i-2,oooth to 

 i-i,6ooth of an inch. Lamb's wool is the finest, and next 

 in fineness is the clip taken from sheep at one year. The 

 former is taken when the lambs are about six months old. 

 Superfine wools are made into garments light, soft and of 

 relatively high values. 



The fine wool breeds in America include all the vari- 

 ous types of the American Merino, pure and high grade, 

 the Delaine in its various families, and the Rambouillet. 

 These are named in order of fineness, beginning with the 

 finest, but the wool furnished by individual animals may 

 not be in entire agreement with this classification. The 

 fiber in the Merino, with some individual exceptions in 

 which the wool is finer, runs from say i-i, Sooth of an inch 

 to i-i,4OOth and in some instances it is even greater. The 

 Delaine and Rambouillet types produce wool not much 



