526 Transactions of the American Institute. 



high authority, are quoted: "Sheep carried from cold to warm 

 climates soon undergo a remarkable change in the appearance of 

 their fleece. From being very fine and thick, it becomes thin and 

 coarse, until at length it degenerates into hair. Even if this change 

 should not take place to its full extent in the individual, it will infal- 

 libly do so in the course of a greater or less number of generations. 

 The effect of heat is nearly the same on the hairs of other animals. 

 The same species that in Russia, Siberia and North America produce 

 the most beautiful and valuable furs, have nothing in the Warmer 

 climates but a coarse and thin covering of hair." 



The above must be received with some limitation. Mr. Youatt 

 makes the following remarks : " Temperature and pasture have an 

 influence on the fineness of the fiber, and one which the farmer should 

 never disregard, but may in a great measure counteract this influence 

 by careful management and selection in breeding. The original ten- 

 dency to the production of a fleece of mixed materials existing, and 

 the lono-er coarse hair covering and defending the shorter and softer 

 wool, nature may be gradually adapting the animal to his new locality ; 

 the hair may increase and the wool may diminish if man is idle all the 

 while, but a little attention to breeding and management will limit 

 the extent of the evil or prevent it altogether. A better illustration 

 than this cannot be found than in the fact that the Merino has been 

 transplanted to every latitude on the temperate zone, and some 

 beyond it — to Sweden in the north and Australia in the south — and 

 has retained its tendency to produce wool exclusively, and wool of 

 nearly equal fineness and value." M. Lasteyrie, a distinguished advo- 

 cate of the Merinos, uses this language : " The preservation of the 

 Merino in its purity at the Cape of Good Hope, and under the rigor- 

 ous climate of Sweden, furnish an additional support of this my 

 opinion ; fine-wooled sheep may be kept wherever industrious men 

 and intelligent breeders exist." 



Notwithstanding the above is so consolatory, and withal so very 

 encouraging to our brethren of the southern States to embark in sheep 

 husbandry, yet it is undeniable that in northern latitudes the finest 

 wools are produced ; but this has arisen much from superior skill in 

 breeding and great assiduity in management in every regard. If 

 sheep are properly selected from high-bred Merino and Saxon flocks, 

 and taken to a latitude not south of twenty-eight degrees, if rightly 

 managed, will suffer little deterioration for many years, and will pro- 

 duce wools of a like description of the Australian — soft, of even and 

 long staple, fit for felting, and also admirably adapted for the finest 



