118 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aprh,, 
Yolk of Wool— Greasy Fleeces. 
■ 
There exists in all animals a provision fjr 
softening and lubricating the hair, wool, fur, or 
feathers, without which their coats would soon 
become harsh, stiff, and brittle ; the skin would 
become dry, and dust 
and dirt easily working 
through the diy cover- 
ing would adliere to 
the cuticle, and disease 
would ensue. In sheep, 
this oily and luljricating 
substance is called the 
yolk; it is possessed of 
remarkable qualities, 
and is of inestiniablo 
value. It consists of an 
oily soap, which exudes 
pure and limpid like 
oil from the skin, and 
coats the fibres of wool. 
As it is drawn up by 
capillary attraction to- 
wards the surface of the 
fleece, it soon begins to 
thicken, in some cases 
quite uniformly, until 
it agglutinates the ends 
of the wool fibres on 
the surface; in others, 
it accummulates in an 
oily mass in the wool, or 
it fills the wool with 
specks like gummy, 
greasy dandruff; while 
in other cases, especial- 
ly with the long-wool 
and hairy sheep, it is 
never found in consider- 
able quantity, but only 
manifests itself by its 
odor, and b}' giving a 
greasy feel to the fleece. 
When a mass of wool 
or fur is wet and pound- 
ed, or kneaded in the 
hands, the fibres work 
together, and finally 
form a compact mass, 
called felt. This felt- 
ing property is possessed by the finest wools 
in a much greater degree than by coarse ones, 
arid is the property which gives to broadcloths, 
beavers, etc., the beautiful firmness and close- 
ness of texture which they possess, making it 
difiicult to part the threads of the cloth. Tlie 
presence of the yolk in these fine wools entirely 
prevents the wool felting on the sheeps' backs — 
tfiough occasionally it does so, to a small extent, 
when severe storms have washed it out from the 
Burf\ice, and the sheep have crowded and rub- 
bed against each other while wet. The protec- 
tion the j'olk affords to the wool in this way, is 
scarcely less than that which it gives to the skin, 
by its forming a barrier which dust and dirt 
cannot pass. These substances being arrested 
on the surface of the fleece, by the yolk, assist 
in forming the coating which the clotted yolk 
makes. It is of no use whatever to the manu- 
facturer, except perhaps as its soapy nature 
may make the yolk and gum of some fleeces aid 
in washing others. The quantity of yolk found 
in the wool of some of the llerino fiimily 
amounts, sometimes, to several pounds in a 
single fleece, and such is the heedlessness of 
wool-buyers, that they pay just as much, as a 
general rule, for wool thus overloaded with 
grease, if it be only called " washed," as for that 
which will cleanse with much greater profit to 
manufacturers. It is, therefore, an object with 
shepherds and farmers to wash their wool little, 
and to encourage the production of as much 
now 
Farmer; *^ Twenty-six 
of it 'clear He.' Thai's 
TIIE "INFANTADo" AND " TAULAR " FOLKS "STRIKE I 
and three-quarter pounds, good weight .'" New-Yorker : 
Tnore oil and less wool {to pull over peoples' eyes,) than 
yolk as possible. In the earlier part of the 
present century, farmers and sheep-breeders 
conscientiously studied the interests of manu- 
facturers, and tried to produce fine fleeces, and 
to put them into market well washed ; now, 
however, they are driven, by a reasonable re- 
gard to their own interests, to the opposite 
course. The results are likely to be, as we con- 
ceive it, most unfortunate. Our breeders have 
improved greatly upon the form of the original 
Merino ; they have increased the weight of the 
carcass, and have not suffered the fineness of the 
wool to deteriorate, but they have increased the 
weight of the fleece chiefly in the vast quantity 
of oil the animals exude from their skins, and 
which dries in the fleece. "We hear of fleeces 
of 18 to 37 pounds weight, and when we con- 
sider that without doubt such fleeces would 
often diminish in cleaning to 4 or 5 lbs. each, 
and perhaps less than that, and that one-fourth 
part of the yolk which so abounds in them 
would be abundant for the purposes for which 
it is so indispensable, we must say that there is 
a very considerable waste of vital power in the 
production of this article, which, by judicious 
management, should be turned to better account. 
On this subject, Hon. H. S. Randall writes: 
" I esteem it particularly fortunate for the 
preservation of the intrinsic value of our Merino 
sheep, and fortunate for the public interest, that 
it is already incontestibly ascertained that the 
greatest amount of yolk is not consistent ei- 
ther with the greatest 
amount of wool, or with 
the greatest aggregate 
amount of both yolk 
and wool. The black, 
miserably ' oily,' ' gum- 
my' sheep, looking as if 
their wool had been 
soaked to saturation in 
half inspissated oil, and 
then daubed over ex- 
ternally with a coating 
of tar and lamp-black, 
never exhibit that max- 
imum of both length 
and density of wool 
which, with a proper 
degree of yolk, produces 
the greatest aggregate 
weight. And animals 
exhibiting this marked 
excess of yolk, are in- 
variably feebler in con- 
stitution, less easily 
kept, and especially 
less capable of with- 
standing severe cold. 
Such excessive secre- 
tions appear, then, to 
cause or else to be the 
results of an abnormal 
or defective organiza- 
tion. For these reasons, 
those comparatively 
worthless animals, once 
so eagerly sought, have 
already gone out of use 
among the best inform- 
ed breeders ; and where 
they linger, it is, like 
antiquated fashions, in 
regions where the cur- 
rent ideas of the day 
penetrate slowly ! " — 
This was written some 
time ago, and now we really fear that our 
American Jlerino breeders are losing sight of 
the truths inculcated. In these oil times, the 
engraving our artist presents this month, not 
inaptly institutes a comparison between two 
equally mad kinds of speculation. We hope 
the lesson may be heeded and practised upon. 
m I -mmm >-m 
Farmers' Gardens. 
'And twenty-two pounds 
we use in Wall street. 
Perhaps one reason why farmers' gardens 
are so neglected, is this : they think they must 
be laid off into formal beds or departments, and 
kept up with a great deal of sj'stera and care. 
They imagine they require much time and skill 
in sowing and planting, in weeding and training. 
Now, of course, much time may be profitably 
spent in the garden, if one's taste and desires 
so incline him, but tliis is not necessary for rais- 
ing a large quantity of good vegetables. Let 
us see what can be done in an easy way : If the 
plot needs manuring, no farmer will object to 
giving it. Plowing it needs of course, deep 
plowing, and then harrowing. All this can be 
done in the spring, when the team and hands 
are doing the same kind of work In the field, 
I 
