24G THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



try as a purveyor and producer to the manufacturer, so as to 

 make available all these necessary points, of adaptability 

 for the varied uses of his product. 



o 

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FIG. 11. Southdown. Merino. FIG. 12. Leicester 



Wool is generally of two classes fine, short and carding 

 wool, and long, coarse and combing wool. This distinction 

 used to be more strict some years ago when Merino wools 

 could not be combed, as some are now by improvements in 

 machinery. But it still prevails, only the longer-wooled De- 

 laine or French Merino is classed with the combing wools 

 because of its longer fiber. The Merino and the Southdown 

 represent the short-wool class, while the Leicester, Cots- 

 wold and Lincoln are types of the long wools, and the 

 Shropshire, Hampshire and Oxford come between these two 

 as middle wools. 



Each of these breeds has its special peculiarity to be 

 studied for its own uses and value, and also for its udapta- 





FIG. 13. Lincoln. Cotswold. Oxford. 



bility for crossing. It is a maxim among breeders that easy 

 steps are more satisfactory than jumps in the union of 

 breeds, and the more nearly the two varieties approach each 

 other in character the better they "nick" together. Violent 

 crosses are rarely satisfactory. In studying the three groups 



