THE LINCOLN 643 



of the National Lincoln Sheep Breeders' Association requires a 

 growth of at least 8 inches of fleece during one year. The weight 

 of the fleece, which is naturally coarse and grades as a braid or 

 low quarter-blood, may in the case of a ram reach 30 pounds. The 

 average weight of fleeces on Lincoln wether lambs in the Iowa 

 feeding experiments was 12.9 and 10.4 pounds respectively, the 

 heaviest of the ten breeds under trial. A mature ewe should pro- 

 duce close to IS pounds and a ram 18 to 20 pounds. In fineness 

 of quality this ranks slightly better than the Leicester. Compared 

 with the Leicester fleece it is longer, is in larger spirals or curls, 

 and covers the belly better. Wrightson states that the wool is very 

 bright and lustrous when shorn, giving the name "" luster wool." 

 This feature, however, disappears when the sheep are bred away 

 from their native county. The massing of the wool in flakes or 

 strands upon the animal is characteristic of the breed, but the fiber 

 is hairlike and " lashy " if separated and compared with the fiber 

 of Merino wool. 



Professor Hawkesworth ^ writes : 



Lincoln wool is made into fabrics of various descriptions and designs, all of 

 a heavy, smooth nature, many of which are dyed into most delicate shades, for 

 which only the best of lusters are suitable on account of their great reflective 

 power, a quality possessed by the Lincoln beyond any other breed except the 

 Leicester, the wool of which is very similar in this respect. Such goods as 

 damasks, reps, russell-cords, braids, lastings, linings, camlets, furniture cloths, 

 serges, boot laces, buntings, and even dolls' hair, are made of Lincoln wool. 



The prices paid for Lincolns have run into sensational figures. 

 Since the South Americans and Australians began to purchase 

 rams for home trade high prices have ruled. The ram sales of 

 Lincolnshire have attracted world-wide attention, especially those 

 of Henry Dudding of Riby Grove, Great Grimsby. During four- 

 teen years Mr. Dudding had sold, writes G. T. Burrows,^ 654 rams 

 for ^202,508, giving an average of about ^306. The individual 

 prices have ranged from ^7414 to $17. Four hundred and forty- 

 two ewes in the fourteen years have averaged ^40 per head. 

 The 1906 sale at Riby Grove was a notable one. One ram sold 

 for ^£'1522 los. (^7414). In all 56 yearling rams realized over 



1 Australian Sheep and Wool. Sydney, 1906. 



2 Breeders' Gazette, September 18, 1912. 



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