FINE WOOL SHEP HUSBANDRY. 25 
The sheep were housed during the winter (usually 
in spacious and well arranged structures of brick or 
stone). They were housed at night, and generally 
brought in for a time at noon, in the warm weather ; 
their carefully selected and constantly varying food 
was portioned out to them with the strictest nicety; 
they had a daily routine, and a monthly routine of 
nutriment ; they were never allowed to go out when 
dew was on the grass; they were most carefully pro- 
tected from rain, and fed in stables during its con- 
tinuance ; they were not allowed to run on particular 
kinds of ground in damp weather, etc., etc. And, 
during the yeaning season, the regularity and care of 
the attendance they received did not fall far short of 
those of a human lying-in hospital. 
These sheep, when introduced into the United 
States, lacked at least one-fifth, and often more, of the 
weight of the parent Spanish Merino, as it then was: 
they were longer legged in proportion to size, slimmer, 
finer boned, and thinner in the neck and head. At 
every point they gave indications of a more delicate 
organization. Their fleeces averaged from one and a 
half to two pounds of washed wool in ewes, and from 
two to three pounds in rams. There was sufficient 
yolk in the fleece to give it pliancy and brilliancy, 
but the yolk was colorless, limpid, and easily liberated 
in washing. It never assumed a viscid, waxy con- 
sistency, or became indurated into “gum” either 
within or on the outer extremity of the wool, and 
consequently having nothing on the surface to catch 
and retain dirt, the fleece remained almost white ex- 
ternally. 
The staple unstretched was usually from an inch tu 
2 
