94 FINE WOOL SHEEP ITCSBANDRY. 
of less value, and that it is essentially a weaker and 
less hardy animal. 
Many of the imported sheep of this variety, as well 
as their descendants, did, undeniably, produce very 
light fleeces in proportion to carcass. I have seen 
them repeatedly beaten, fleece for fleece, by little com- 
pact American Merinos of scarcely half their size. 
It is true also of the best of them that their fceces 
are much lighter in proportion to mere bulk (that is 
when equal force is applied to compress the fleece in 
the wool press*), than those of the American variety. 
If both are unwashed, the American fleece has far 
most yolk. If washed equally well, the American 
fleece still retains far more of that substance. Yolk 
is mainly an animal soap, the constituents of which 
will presently be given, but it contains a trace of 
insoluble fatty matter. Whether from a greater pro- 
portion of the last, or for some other cause, the yolk 
of the American sheep is less readily liberated—it 
requires more previous soaking—and if the sheep are 
put dry into cold brook water, and not kept in over 
long—the fashionable mode of washing in our coun- 
try—the French Merino’s wool is nearly as free from 
this substance before it goes in, as that of a class of 
American Merinos is when they come out; and ac- 
cording to my observation, the yolk reappears twice 
as rapidly in the American fleece after washing. In- 
deed this must be true, for where there is double or 
treble secretion during the year, the process of secre- 
tion must go on with double or treble rapidity ; con- 
sequently, if two or three weeks are allowed to 
intervene, as usual, between washing and shearing, 
* See Appendix D. 
