THE EUMINANT ORDER. 
263 
the production of milk, as in the department of Aveyron, and 
chiefly in the district of which the village of Roquefort is the 
centre. In its environs more than two hundred thousand milking 
ewes are kept. The basis of these cheeses is the curdled milk, in 
which is mixed and kneaded a small quantity of mouldy bread 
reduced to powder. These cheeses undergo various operations, 
upon which we shall not now dwell, which, however, give them 
their flavour and special qualities. 
The most valuable commodities which are produced by Sheep, 
both in a manufacturing and agricultural point of view, may be 
summed up as wool and meat. In order to supply these two 
products in perfection, it is necessary that the animal should present 
a certain type of conformation. 
We shall carefully examine the various varieties of Sheep ; but 
before entering upon this subject we will say a few words as to 
the origin, structure, and qualities of their wool, and the harvest 
of the fleece. 
The Sheep’s skin produces, in a wild state, two capillary 
substances : one, stiff and straight, which is called hair , and is 
the most abundant ; the other, waving or curled, which is called 
wool , and is the most scanty. In a domesticated state, how- 
ever, these proportions are reversed ; it is the wool which is the 
most plentiful and constitutes the fleece. Under all the efforts of 
culture the stiff hair tends more and more to decrease. The fleece 
is composed of a collection of locks or slivers , and the locks of a 
collection of the staple , or hairy fibres. 
The staple is composed of tubes fitted together, which are only 
visible in the miscroscope ; their diameter is variable, for which 
reason it is divided into extra fine , fine , middling, common , and 
coarse. Such staple as is equal throughout in diameter, if straight, 
is much valued; when it is flexuous, the wool is called wavy ; and 
when the flexions are very close together, it is pronounced curly . 
This last characteristic appears to belong more particularly to the 
Merino breed. 
The desiderata sought for in wool are flexibility, mellowness, and 
softness ; these properties enable the staple to preserve the quali- 
ties which are communicated to it, for then the wool will work or 
felt much more easily, and imparts to the woven fabric the 
softness and mellowness to the touch which is so much valued. 
