366 JUDGING FARM ANIMALS 



close to the body, or long and heavy, nearly touching the 

 ground, as sometimes occurs, but should be of medium size, 

 lean and well defined. The udder of the female lies closely 

 in front of the thighs, and consists of two glands, and two 

 teats. It is important that the udder be well supported 

 from above, the glands of equal size, and the teats not too 

 large and in perfect condition. The female sheep, the ewe, 

 usually bears one young, frequently she has twins, and 

 cases are on record of ewes having five lambs at one birth. 

 This feature of reproduction largely depends upon breed 

 and race, some breeds being much more fecund than others. 



The skin of the domestic sheep is ordinarily covered with 

 wool, and is not to be seen excepting about the nose, ears, 

 armpits and udder. Below the surface of wool it is more 

 or less pink and delicate. The skin, however, differs some- 

 what in color, ranging from bright pink to a light bluish 

 shade, with various tints between. Small oil secreting 

 glands occur in the skin, assisting in keeping it in healthy 

 condition, and also supplying oil for the wool. This oil 

 differs from other animal fats, in containing a large per- 

 centage of potash, which makes it easily dissolvable in 

 water. Thus it was in early days that the shepherd washed 

 his sheep in the running water of the brook, the mixture 

 of oil and dirt being more or less washed off, according to 

 the thoroughness of the washing. 



The fleece or wool of the sheep consists of fibers that are 

 closely related to hair in structure. Each of these grows in 

 the skin from a tubular cavity called a hair bulb. The wool 

 fiber consists of a hollow or cored center, surrounded by a 

 hard cellular wall, on the exterior of which are a great num- 

 ber of little scales, which overlap each other like shingles on 

 the roof of a house, forming the outside of the fiber. These 

 scales have enough prominence at their ends, to catch and 

 interlock with those on adjoining fibers, thus forming a 

 felting process, which gives the great value to wool in cloth 

 making. The scales 011 hair, however, are so small and so 

 closely attached to the surface of the fiber, that felting is 



