322 
Wool in Relation to Science with Practice. 
to show that amongst the ablest agricultural minds there is a grow- 
ing tendency towards shelter for the sheep, with a view to rendering 
climates more uniform : unsheltered fleeces are not so valuable 
as those better cared for : yolk may be washed away faster than 
it can be reproduced, as if shorn wool were exposed for a long 
time to the action of rain. Professor Wrightson's Vienna Reports 
in this ' Journal,' give us some idea of the Continental system, 
" Dry food and nightly shelter." Mr. Brown goes so far as to 
tell us that at home the day is coming when in winter low- 
land and upland sheep will be housed animals. In raising 
wool and mutton — and with the farmer of the United Kingdom 
proper these two considerations can never be dissociated — regard 
should be had not only to the rainfall generally, but to the mean 
local and monthly tables : in any country herbage and the well- 
doing of the flock does not depend on the annual rainfall, but on 
the even distribution of moisture, weekly and bi-weekly.* Mr. 
Torr has much to tell us on the subject of shelter, and he 
quotes his friend, Mr. Randell's, well-known experience and 
practice on clay-land, cheap thatched sheds on posts, filled in 
between with hurdles and straw, the sheep standing on burnt 
clay. Mr. Brereton uses sea-sand for this bedding purpose. In 
the 5th volume of the new series of the ' Journal ' there is a 
valuable paper " On the Influence of Climate on Sheep," by Mr. 
Tanner. He tells us wool is materially influenced by climate 
and soil. Kempy t fleeces are in proportion to the rain and 
severity of the climate, and the poverty of soil ; this injury may 
be checked by management ; wool is better on some farms than 
on others more favourably situated. There are curious variations 
from wool to hair : independently of circumstances, there is 
nothing in the structure of a sheep to render it necessarily a wool- 
bearing animal : hair and wool are both produced from vascular 
bulbs beneath the skin : there is no essential difference whether 
wool or hair be produced. 
Animal Physiology, — This introduces us to the Animal Physio- 
logist, who can tell us something, but I think should tell us a 
vast deal more. To old Mr. Youatt we are greatly ihdebted for 
really good Avork ; but in my present direction little has been 
done since his day. Especially as regards wool there is a void 
in agricultural literature which should be closed by some com- 
prehensive paper " On the Animal Physiology of the Sheep," 
indicative of all authorities on the subjects quoted. In the 
Austro-Hungarian Agricultural Colleges wool, as has been 
* Seo further on this subject a good paper in the fourth volume of-the new 
series of the ' Journal,' by Mr. Whitley, " The Climnto of the British Isles. ' 
t By Kcmjjy wodl is meant tlie proscMico of short white hairs at the roots oi 
the staple, whioh never take the dye, and disfigure all poods into which they are 
introduced. 
