on Merino Sheep and Wool. 535 



\vool was xi-Qo' Ths reader will compare the first term with the measurements 

 which I have made. With regard to the latter, among 135 filaments of Morfc, 

 Ryeland, and South-Down wool which I have examined, I have met with only 4, 

 which have been so small as -j^jVo of an inch in diameter. 



If therefore my specimens were good, and my measurements are accurate, those 

 of both these authors must be erroneous. 



In order to make a perfect comparison between the wool of different breeds of 

 sheep, or different individuals of the same breed, the following rules should be 

 observed. 



1st, The paper on which the wool is projected should not be more than 4 inches 

 square, and should always be placed in the same spot, at precisely the same distance 

 from the object and eye. 



2dly, Each lock of wool should consist of filaments as nearly as can be of 

 equal lengths ; should be well scoured, as much as possible spread, and mode- 

 rately strained on the glass, which should be blackened in the manner before 

 specified, after the filaments are fixed by the cement. 



3dly, In the microscopical examination, no selection should be made of filaments; 

 but the first 10 which, as the stage is gently shifted, distinctly present their images 

 on the paper below, should always be taken. 



4thly, The specimens to be examined should, where it is practicable, or the 

 occasion may not require the contrary, be taken from the same part of the animal, 

 from animals of the same age, of the same degree of fatness, and at the same 

 season of the year. 



Due regard being had to these precautions, many valuable discoveries on the 

 growth and improvement of wool may doubdess be made. 



Having thus established the fineness of my wool relatively to that of the pure 

 Merino, by the test of the microscope applied to particular specimens, I have to 

 add liie result of an experiment in the gross, made since my former communication 

 to die Boav'l. Messrs, Yeais of Monk's Mill, Glocestershirc, having in 1806, been 

 ch( sen by the Agricultural Society of this city, under the Premium Class V. 

 No. v., to ;nake a piece of Navy-blue broad cloth of wool grown in England, 

 comparatively with some riative Leonesa pile, executed that trust with equal zeal 

 and db liiv. In order that the trial mighi bo the more complete, they nicinufactured 

 ia a preci.-cly similar manner three pieces, of which two were of the Coronet and 



