242 MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 



and another make fat ; but it seems to be aware that several 

 kinds are required to enable its digestive organs to effect such 

 chemical combinations as will not only nourish the wool, 

 but assimilate the inorganic substances which compose the 

 external parts of the filament. From thousands of experi- 

 ments made in Germany, it 'has been demonstrated that hay 

 alone will not produce as much wool, as when straw is mixed, 

 which cannot be philosophically explained on any other prin- 

 ciple than that which has been laid down. It must be re- 

 peated, that variety only mil furnish those perfect proportions 

 of organic and inorganic materials of which wool is composed. 

 If we give the animal too much food of a carbonized or fat- 

 tening character, the fibres of wool, being tubular in theii 

 conformation, distend or become coarser, and the weight is 

 certainly increased ; but on the contrary, if fed several'kinds, 

 and each abounds as largely as possible with albumen, the 

 fibre is materially increased in length, though not so much 

 in biilk, simply because the variations of food supply to a 

 greater extent the substances requisite to form the filament 

 This may be termed natural wool, the quantity or weight of 

 which will be as great as that produced by feeding grosser 

 food, which has the effect to increase the diameter of the fibre 

 at the expense of the length, and therefore is coarser, as well 

 as harsh and wiry. The Germans abhor feeding large quan- 

 tities of fattening food irf growing Saxon wool, as it destroys 

 its delicate texture, and its value is lessened accordingly for 

 the manufacture of the finest and softest fabrics. 



The American wool-grower need not overfeed simply with 

 a view to make heavy fleeces, as the wool of the sheep, when 

 fat, is comparatively coarse ; and the expense of the food used 

 in placing them in this condition, together with the reduction 

 in the value of their wool, will more than counterbalance the 

 gain from the increased weight. The wool of the Saxon and 

 Merino variety is never so beautiful and perfect in all respects, 

 as when it is natural ; and this follows only from keeping 

 the sheep in healthy store order, and nothing beyond that. 

 The feeding of grain by the Germans is simply as equiva- 

 lents, hay always being the standard, by which the quantity 

 of any kind of food, daily, is determined. Their aim is not 

 to increase the flesh and fat at the expense of the wool or 

 any of its valuable properties ; and if we ever expect to rival 

 them in the extensive production of the most beautiful wool 

 in the world, and at the least sacrifice, we must imitate their 



