J'Fool in Relation to Scieiice with Practice. 
321 
late Mr. Torr,* whose opinion in many respects I regard as a 
student reverences the teaching of a consummate master, tells us 
this : — " On my own farm I can grow better wool on some por- 
tions than on others : in South Lincolnshire, about Spilsby, 
wool grows in an extraordinary manner : north of Fife, and 
south of the English Channel, the quality of the wool falls off; 
it then becomes hair or moss. The valuable fine lustre wool is 
pretty nearly confined to a few degrees of latitude ; so that space 
being limited, there is little or no danger of wool ever glutting 
the market — fine lustre wool will ever bear a great value." 
Valuable discoveries are made by attention to simple facts. 
The geological formation has a close relation to the nature of 
the soil, and the nature of the soil materially affects the quality 
of the wool grown upon it. Bakewellj classes wool-soils thus : 
Clay the best : next, sand ; and then lime, or of that nature : 
the fellmonger knows well the effect of lime-water on skin-wool ; 
it acts unfavourably on the fibre and gives it hardness : chalky 
soils make wool rough : the lime is said to act on the yolk, 
forming an imperfect soap, readily washed away : sand does 
not so combine. The particles of the soil, besides, have a chemi- 
cal and mechanical action on the fleece ; the wool becomes 
coloured : the colour is often indelibly fixed in the wool, a 
tint which remains after scouring. Also the nature of the soil 
is said to have an effect on the felting quality of the wool : we 
are told that Southdown wool grown on limestone does not felt 
well, but improves when the sheep is removed from that forma- 
tion ; but, at the same time, it is known that on the same 
soil different breeds vary in regard to the felting quality. I 
have much to ask the Professor of Applied Geology : to me the 
Ordnance and the Geological Surveys should be especially in- 
teresting : meanwhile I can only stay here to commend to the 
Professor the following illustration : — In the northern parts of 
Derbyshire, where the strata are abruptly broken, the difference 
of wool from the same kind of sheep was so marked and well 
known, that both by buyer and seller this language was quite 
understood — " My wool is grit. Sir ; and I expect a better price 
than my neighbour's, which is limestone." 
Meteorological Considerations. — In regard to " tempering the 
wind to the shorn lamb," the meteorological considerations affect- 
ing my subject are very important. The evidence before me tends 
is specially adapted to the growth of wool. I know tJiat lambs, bought in the 
North and brought into the Kipon district, always produce wool much superior to 
that produced by the same class when grazed iu their native climate." See p. 343. 
* 'Journal,' New Series, vol. ii. p. 549. 
+ 'Observations on tlie Influence of Soil and Climate upon Wool.' — By Robert 
Bakewell. London, 1808. 
VOL. XI. — S. S. Y 
