256 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



the late Joseph Harris and given to the writer by him. 

 This sample shows how two strong' natural tendencies are 

 combined in almost equal proportions, as may be easily 

 perceived by comparing tigs. 21 and 22 together. The fiber 

 of wool of this cross was seven inches long, when stretched, 

 had considerable crimp, the yolkiness of the ewe, and none 

 of the looseness of the ram's fleece. To my mind this was 

 the most successful cross for wool that I have seen, as it w r as 

 a most satisfactory cross for market lambs to the breeder. 



This is a subject for much consideration and experiment. 

 It is suggested in this line. The evidence goes to show 

 that there is a wide field for enterprise and careful study 

 in this cross-breeding. And if sheep-breeders can succeed 

 in producing a flock that will yield any more desirable fleece 

 than we now have for any special purpose, and at the same 

 time yield good mutton by the use of the large-bodied Me- 

 rino on any of our other breeds, and especially upon the na- 

 tive sheep, now the least profitable of all kinds, much good 

 Will be done to all concerned. I offer no further suggestion 

 to intelligent readers, but simply present the evidence which 

 I have gathered." 



THE CULTURE OF WOOL. 



"The wool grower," is a very fit term to apply to the 

 shepherd. The wool is indeed grown, and this only by 

 quite as much skill and attention to every detail and neces- 

 sity as the ordinary farmer applies to the growth of his 

 crops. For these must be fed, or they fail to produce the 

 quantity or quality of the desired product; so the wool 

 grower must feed his flocks for this very same purpose the 

 crop of wool which he gathers from his sheep annually. 

 Wool, we know, is an outgrowth of the skin, produced by 

 the proper aliment by which the flesh and its coverings, 

 the skin and its fleece, are nourished. All through the his- 

 tory of the sheep we find that the feeding and general cul- 

 ture of the animal have been the means by which the ends 

 desired and worked for, have been attained and secured. 

 and made a permanent acquisition of the sheep thus im- 

 proved. We are too often told that it is breeding which has 

 produced these improvements in the domestic animals. If 

 this is true, then we have gained something from nothing, 



