78 PEOPEE AMOUNT AND CONSISTENCY OF YOLK. 



slide on each, other with every movement of the animal ; so 

 that, in effect, the cracks are the joints of tlie fleece. If dry 

 and unlubricated by the yolk, the friction of these sliding 

 masses would, on the sides subjected to abrasion, wear or 

 break off the tooth -like processes on the wool on which the 

 felting property depends ; and this same effect would follow, 

 whether to a greater or lesser degree, I am unable to say, on 

 those coarse open fleeces in which, as in the covering of hairy 

 animals, there is no such massing of the fibers and each slides 

 separately on the surrounding ones. Again: if the wool was 

 unlubricated, heavy rains, and the contact of the sheep with 

 each other, with the ground and other substances, would 

 cause felting on the back — a result now sometimes witnessed 

 to a limited extent, and termed " cotting." 



Peopee Amount and Consistency of Yolk. — ^Different 

 opinions are entertained of the amount of yolk it is profitable 

 to propagate in wool. If the fleece is sold unwashed, and 

 according to the present general mode, at a fixed rate of 

 shrinkage on that account, it is obviously the interest of the 

 wool grower to produce as much yolk as is consistent with 

 the greatest united production of wool and yolk. And even 

 if wool is sold nominally " washed," it is evident that the 

 same amount of washing will leave very yolky fleeces heavier 

 than unyolky ones. Farmers have learned that if they can 

 only say their wool is washed — no matter how washed — ten 

 or fifteen per cent, more yolk than would be left by thorough 

 washing, will not cause any corresponding deduction in the 

 price. There are a class of experienced buyers, certainly, who 

 do not purchase in this indiscriminate way, but as the wool 

 business has constantly expanded and opened new oppor- 

 tunities for the profitable investment of money, every year 

 brings its fresh horde of raw, eager buyers — the agents of 

 manufacturers or speculators, or persons speculating on their 

 own account — and some of these always take the heavy, dirty 

 wools at about the price of the clean ones. I shall allude to 

 this topic again under subsequent heads. 



I esteem it particularly fortunate for the preservation of 

 the intrinsic value of our Merino sheep, and fortunate for the 

 public interest, that it is already incontestibly ascertained that 

 the greatest amount of yolk is not consistent either with the 

 greatest amount of wool, or with the greatest aggregate 

 amount of both yolk and wool. The black, miserably "oily," 

 " gummy" sheep, looking as if their wool had been soaked to 



