SHEEP 



621 



mean that the wools were grown on 

 sheep posses-:::.: just that fraction of 

 Merino blood. Many sheep containing 

 no Merino blood grow wool grading 

 three-eighths and one-fourth blood. 

 Xumber 1 or one-half blood is the next 

 coarser grade thai: X. Number $ is 

 coarser than Xuniber 1. and so on." 



1 .arse and grade wool are invariably 

 combing wools and are the grades most 

 frequently produced by Lincolns. L 

 ters and is, which have fleeces 



coarse and long in staple but bright and 

 lustrous. Fine Delaine wool is Merino 

 wool fine enough to grade X, or above, 

 and long in staple. 



'"Medium Delaine is the grade next 

 coarser than the above, while Low De- 

 laine is long enough to be combing but 

 a grade finer than the finest combing 

 wool, namely, three-eighths blood." 



In addition to these grades of wool 

 noted above, other grades known as felt- 

 ing wools and Xoils are occasionally 

 quoted. The felting wools usually pos- 

 - short staple and are adapted to 

 felting purposes, because they felt- 

 quickly. In felting "the fibers are in- 

 terlocked in such a way that a solid 



is produced without the interme- 

 ; rocess of spinning and weaving." 1 " 

 Xoils refers to the dead and tender 

 wools which are broken off in the proc- 

 - ?ombing wool fibers between fine 

 needles. They may also be called comb- 

 ing waste. "The long and healthy fibers 

 are carried along through the combing 

 process and formed into what are called 

 jps." 



The long staple wool usually includes 

 the Lincoln, the Leicester. Cotswold. 

 Romney Marsh and Blackface or High- 

 land. The short staple includ-- 

 Southdown. Hampshire. Suffolk, Shrop- 

 shire, Oxford, Cheviot and Welsh. The 

 Delaine, of course, comes from the De- 

 laine and Improved Merinos. 



Prof. H. W. Mumford. whose classi- 

 fication of wools has been followed above, 

 secured typical ewe fleeces from a large 

 number of sheep breeders. The fleeces 

 were believed to be representative of the 

 various breeds. The following table 

 shows the weight of these fleeces, the 

 percentage of shrink in washing, their 

 commercial grade and the pri 

 pound. 



WEIGHT OF FLEECE A>T> COMMERCIAL GRADE OF 1" IFFEREXT BREEDS. 



~" - - - r ■ . , :-■ 



American Merino . . 17.1 



National Delaine Merino 9.6 

 American Rambouillet. S.l 

 H ...v.; s.-.:r- - _" :?- : ". i ;: 



Southdown 7.7 



Shropshire 10.7 



Suffolk (Ram) 6.9 



Hampshire 9.4 



Oxford Down 15.1 



Oxford Down 18.fi 



ster (Ram) 12.5 



Cotswold 12.3 



Lincoln 14. T 



Tunis B.8 



Dorset Horn B.9 



Cheviot 9.1 



Rambouillet- Am. Merino 7.3 



an* 



Pnee Price 



f : —■-. ' <: ".---: '. 



n G^i« F.eeee Scoured 



per St. per lb. Fleece 



t i t 



xClothir.r - 



Fine Delaine 81% 51 8.04 



xClothing 14% 1.61 



:h:ng 19 18% 8.11 



% combing 23 .37% : " 



-_ : TV." .:._ .. .42-.* - - 



Low Sg combing. .23 .53 % 1.61 



mbing 23 .41 i . " 



i ■ ir.s 19 .32*4 2.88 



Brai ". : ml rag - 12% 2.58 



, blood 19 



Braid combing. . . .19 

 Braid combing . . .. 



mbing ..... -- - 1.69 



mbing sa 12% 2.34 



y:r? 22^ .31 . 5 



% ;r..bing 21*- .31 L.4C 



The table shows the percentage shrink 

 - .ring different wools to vary from 

 27.4 per cent in the case of C 

 sheep to 72.4 per cent in Merinos. The 

 Lincoln produces the most valuable 

 fleece, followed by the Oxfords, both 

 breeds yielding combing wools, 



GOATS 



:s are more or less familiar ani- 

 mals in the Unit I Si I - 3 pets for 



children. In the southwestern states 



Angoras are grown under range condi- 

 tions for mohair. There are also a 



many common goats in the S 

 among the negro farmers. According to 

 the last ecu- - 5 goats 



for the whole country, of which 78 

 were reported from cities. Aboul 700,- 

 000 of the total are of the Angora breed, 

 the remainder are all sorts of animals, 

 except distinct breeds of milch goats of 

 which there are so few as not to affect 

 the total materially. 



