SUMMER MANAGEMENT. 195 



liis choice of breeds, and determines the number he ca» 

 keep. 



The question has been conclusively settled, that food ex- 

 erts a more immediate and radical influence upon the car- 

 case, and especially so upon the fleece, than any other 

 known circumstance, which is confirmed by every sheep his- 

 torian. Mr. Youatt states the following : " Pasture has a 

 far greater influence than climate on the fineness of the 

 fleece. The staple of the wool, like every other part of the 

 sheep, must increase in length or in bulk when the animal 

 has a superabundance of nutriment ; and, on the other hand, 

 the secretion which forms the wool must decrease like every 

 other, when sufficient nourishment is not afforded. 



" When little cold has been experienced in the winter, 

 and vegetation has been scarcely checked, the sheep yields 

 an abundant crop of wool, but the fleece is perceptibly 

 coarser, as well as heavier. When the frost has been severe, 

 and the ground long covered with snow — if the flock has been 

 fairly supplied with nutriment, although the fleece may have 

 lost a little in weight, it will have acquired a superior degree 

 of fineness, and a proportional increase of value. Should, 

 however, the sheep have been neglected and starved during 

 this prolongation of cold weather, the fleece as well as car- 

 case is thinner, and although it may have preserved its 

 smallness of filament, it has lost in weight, and strength, 

 and usefulness." 



There can be no doubt that in Great Britain wool has 

 materially changed its character since the introduction of 

 artificial food, and the adoption of the forcing system. Mr. 

 Nottage states,* of the Western Down sheep, " that he used 

 to get one-eighth part of the finest English wool from each 

 fleece ; but that now the quantity is so small he does not 

 throw it out ; he does not set a basket for it at all." Mr. 

 Sutcliffe says, that — " Thirty years ago there was, in some 

 South Down flocks, nearly as good wool grown, as the fine 

 German that now comes into the country." Mr. Varley 

 adds, that " he used to throw his wool extremely high to the 

 sort — very good to the sort — but he found that the qualities 

 generally were getting so low, that if he continued that sort 

 of practice, he should have been looking into two of his best 

 bins without finding a bit of wool in them." Mr. Fison 



* Testimony before a committee of Parliament. 



