242 



THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



must chalk out, so to speak, the ideal before him, and then 

 devote every effort to attain this end. The wool grower 

 must then know something about the nature of his product, 

 its special character, its differentiations under varying cir- 

 cumstances, and as well the needs of the manufacturer of 

 his staple, and the results upon the quality of it of mistakes 

 or accidents in the management of the flocks. 



Heretofore the precise nature of wool has been only 

 superficially or erroneously described in the books that have 

 been taken as authorities. It is only necessary to examine 

 the various illustrations given in such pretentious works 

 as the encyclopedias, to perceive how little has been known, 



FIG. 6. Outer scales 

 of wool. 



through what might be called popular science, of the char- 

 acter of wool; and as far as the possibility of a breeder 

 of sheep or a wool grower getting any fair notion of what 

 wool is, the student might as well examine the structure of a 

 rope or a chain cable, to get an idea of that of a silk ribbon. 

 The regular and methodically-placed imbrications upon the 

 fiber, alternating equally like shingles on a roof, are mere 

 creations of the imagination, due to imperfect study of the 

 fiber under an inferior microscope, that is inexcusable in 

 any modern work. Instead of this regularity of position 

 and consistency of form in these imbrications, there is a 

 great variation in both respects, as may be seen in the 



