262 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



breeding this defect is one to be considered as objectionable, 

 and considerably reducing the value. In every addition to 

 the flock, of a father for the lambs, the highest excellence 

 only should be the main consideration. For as these defects 

 are constitutional one knows not what others may be hid- 

 den in the animal to appear in time in his progeny. 



Broad topped wool is that kind which splits at. the top 

 and down some way into the fiber. The surface of the fleece 

 may appear all right, but when the wool is parted it is found 

 that the fibers are adhering together some way down, thus 

 dividing the fleece into masses which cannot be parted with- 

 out tearing the wool apart with some force. This matted 

 fiber is dead wool, and is a total loss in the manufacture of 

 the finest goods. This is an inherited defect, and to be con- 

 sidered in the choice of a breeding animal \vhether ram or 

 ewe. It may be pardoned to some extent in the ew r e, for ob- 

 vious reasons, when extra good quality otherwise causes this 

 to be overlooked; but it is unpardonable in a ram because 

 the fault may effect the whole produce of the flock. 



A kempy sheep should be discarded on sight. This disease 

 is entirely constitutional. In breeding stock it is a fatal ob- 

 jection. Wherever it exists it is to be found all over the 

 sheep. It is a residue of the old lineage from the wild ani- 

 mal, and that it is still existing goes to show the force of 

 the inheritable tendency to go back to a distant ancester. In 

 this case it means some thousands of years, since which it 

 has been continuing in the blood. It is recognized by the 

 short, coarse hairs mostly found on those parts of the sheep 

 where the wool is the lightest, and the shortest; as on the 

 face, upper part of the legs, inside the flank, and on the 

 scrotum. When any sheep is found to be thus affected, the 

 same hairs may be found on examination all through the 

 fleece, and as these harsh hairs do not take the dye as the 

 wool does, this kemp is a serious objection to the manufac- 

 turer of any kind of fine goods. This of course reduces the 

 value of such wool and the bearers of it. It thus lessens the 

 value of the fleece one-half, and it is not possible for the 

 wool sorter to separate it from the actual wool. It is some- 

 times found in the wrinkles of the very heavily fleeced Me- 

 rinos, and may thus be sorted out at the expenditure of a lit- 

 tle extra labor and waste of wool, but it should be the ob- 



