LENGTH OF THE STAPLE COLOR. 37 



The refina (fig. 1), or the picklock wool, begins at the 

 withers, and extends along the back to the setting on of 

 the tail. It reaches only a little way down at the quarters, 

 but, dipping down at the flanks, takes in all the superior part 

 of the'chest, and the middle of the side of the neck to the 

 angle of the lower jaw. The fina (fig. 2), a valuable wool, 

 • but not so deeply serrated, or possessing so many curves as 

 the refina, occupies the belly, and the quarters and thighs 

 down to the stifle joint. No, 3, or third quality, is found on 

 the head, the throat, the lower part of the neck, and the 

 shoulders, terminating at the elbow ; the wool yielded by 

 the legs, and reaching from the stifle to a little below the 

 hock, is procured from the tuft that grows on the forehead 

 and cheeks, from the tail, and from the legs below the hock.* 



LENGTH OF THE STAPLE. 



Formerly, wool of short staple only was thought by the 

 manufacturer indispensable to make a fine cloth with a close 

 pile or nap, but the improvements made in machinery within 

 a few years have superseded this consideration, and now 

 long-staple wool is most valued. This in part proceeds 

 from the fact that short wools have more " dead end," pro- 

 portionally, than long ; again, the new American enterprise 

 for rnanufacturing muslin de laines, calls for a long, tough, 

 fine staple. The Australian wools, which are of Merino 

 and Saxon-blood, from the mildness of the climate of New 

 South Wales, are very much longer in staple than formerly, 

 and are much used for the above object. It is a qu^ry, 

 however, whether a fine and very compact fleece, possessing 

 a long fibre, can be produced on the same sheep. Very 

 close, fine fleeces, are always comparatively short in staple ; 

 ind close fleeces are indispensable in our rigorous climate, to 

 protect the sheep from the efiects of cold and wet ; on the con- 

 trary, open fleeces are usually long in staple, but a poor defence 

 against a low temperature. It is, therefore, a question for 

 the wool-grower of the North to consider whether, in obliging 

 the manufacturer, he will not adopt a policy injurious to the 

 constitution of his sheep. In a more southern latitude, this 

 consideration is not so important. 



COLOR. 



The alteration of the color was the first recorded im- 



* Livingston. 

 4 



