86 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



pendent on the cause of the cloudiness. The first quality 

 of wool is elastic, lies loosely, and is white as snow. The 

 next choice is a rich bufif yellow or golden tint, and pos- 

 sessed of uniformity in a marked degree. Cloudiness, 

 therefore, detracts from the beauty and salableness of the 

 wool. Discoloration from soil, as the dark wool of the 

 adobe soil of California, or the reddish tint from the red 

 clays of Tennessee, is not the same exactly as cloudiness, 

 but, like cloudiness, it detracts somewhat from the mar- 

 ket price paid. 



Cloudy wool may be produced by any one of the fol- 

 lowing causes: (i) Rain dripping down on sheep from 

 deficient roofs ; (2) irregular and uneven exposure ; (3) 

 deprivation of exercise to the extent of lowering the cir- 

 culation ; and (4) inheritance. Should the circulation be 

 unduly lowered, the yolk will not be present in sufficient 

 quantity, nor will it be sufficiently liquefied to carry it to 

 the extremities of the fibers. In such instances the fiber 

 of the wool is injured. When cloudy wool is the outcome 

 of inheritance, the defect becomes constitutional. The 

 fine wooled breeds have wool thus defective more fre- 

 quently than the other sheep. 



The measures that should be taken to prevent cloudi- 

 ness in wool will depend on the cause from which it may 

 emanate. Should it result from the dripping of the water, 

 mending or remending the roof or removing the sheep, 

 will stay the evil. Should it be the outcome of uneven ex- 

 posure, protecting the sheep from falling storms and al- 

 lowing them to go in and out from the shelter of sheds at 

 will, should prove effective. Should the circulation be un- 

 duly lowered through lack of exercise or insufficient food, 

 more exercise and better food should remove the trouble. 

 When the defect is constitutional, the animals so affected 

 should be rejected for breeding. 



Stripy or watery wool— The term was formerly ap- 

 plied to wool lacking in wave or crimp and that is non- 

 elastic; that is to say, lifeless when compressed by the 



