SORTING WOOL. 
153 
beneficial. I planted a lot of pasture land, a poor 
sandy soil, and mostly grown over to moss. I 
spread on forty ox-cart loads of stable manure to 
the acre, and plowed it in ; but fearing that would 
not overcome the inertia of the soil, I applied 500 
ibs. guano per acre, in this way, after harrowing, 
instead of running my rows with a plow. I did it 
with a small harrow made for the purpose, not 
over 14 inches wide, but heavy. The guano was 
then spread in those drills, and then the harrow run 
again, to mix it well with the soil, and put it in fine 
tilth for planting. My corn yielded 70 bushels per 
acre, whereas, some rows that had no guano, gave 
at the rate of 28 bushels per acre. This, I think, 
conclusive. I recommend it also for fruit trees. 
Seekon/c, Mass ,Mch. 14, 1846. J. W. Bowers. 
SORTING WOOL. 
As most of the sheep of the United States are 
shorn during this month, we cannot do the farmer 
a greater service than to call his attention to the 
subject of the quality of his fleeces, and the manner 
of stapling them. For the cut illustrating this, and 
the matter which follows, we are indebted to Mr. 
Morrell’s valuable work, the American Shepherd, 
recently published by the Messrs. Harper of 
this city. 
Fineness. —This term, when 
applied to wool, is wholly com¬ 
parative ; various breeds of 
sheep producing wool essen¬ 
tially different in quality, the 
same breeds varying much, and 
all breeds exhibiting qualities 
of wool of unequal fineness, in 
the same fleece. It is a-lso 
sometimes the fact that the ex¬ 
tremity of the fibre, as ascertain 
ed by the micrometer, is five 
times greater in bulk than the 
centre and root. 
The fibre may be considered 
coarse when it is more than the 
five hundredth part of an inch 
in diameter, and very fine when 
it does not exceed the nine hun¬ 
dredth part of an inch, as exhi¬ 
bited occasionally in choice 
samples of Saxon-Merino wool. 
It is said there are animals 
which have a wool underneath 
a covering of hair, the fibre ol 
which is less than the twelve 
hundredth part of an inch. 
The following cut will show the points in the 
pure Merino and Saxon where the different quali¬ 
ties of wool are to be found. The divisions do not 
always accurately correspond, but Lasteyrie and 
Chancellor Livingston, who were both familiar with 
pure Spanish Merinos, agree as to their general 
truth, and the observations of the writer confirm 
their decision. 
It is, then, a matter to be studied by the wool- 
grower, who is desirous of propagating sheep of 
the fine-woolled varieties; for grades will often 
exhibit seven and eight qualities in the same fleece, 
whereas it will be seen that unalloyed breeds show 
but four qualities. Individuals have occasionally 
been found in original Saxon flocks whose fleeces 
would divide into only two sorts; but this is 
very rare. 
The refina, No. 1 , or the picklock wool, begins 
at Ihe 'withers, and extends along the back to the 
setting on of the tail. It reaches only a little way 
down at the quarters, but, dipping down at the 
flanks, takes in all the superior part of the chest, 
and the middle of the side of the neck to the angle 
of the louver jaw. The fina, No. 2 , a valuable 
wool, but not so deeply serrated, or possessing so 
many curves as the refina, occupies the belly, and 
the quarters and thighs down to the stifle joint. No. 
3, or third quality, is found on the head, the throat, 
the lower part of the neck, and the shoulders, ter¬ 
minating at the elbow; the wool yielded by the 
legs, and reaching from the stifle to a little below 
the hock, is procured from the tuft that grows 051 
the forehead and cheeks, from the tail, and from the 
legs below the hock. 
Length of the Staple. —Formerly, wool of short 
staple only was thought by the manufacturer indis¬ 
pensable to make a fine cloth with a close pile or 
nap, but the improvements made in machinery 
within a few years, have superseded this considera¬ 
tion, and now long-staple wool is most valued. 
This in part proceeds from the fact that short wools 
Merino Ewe. —Fig. 44. 
have more “ dead end,” proportionally, than long, 
again, the new American enterprise, for manufactur¬ 
ing muslin-de-laines, calls for a long, tough, fine 
staple. The Australian wools, which are of Me¬ 
rino and Saxon blood, from the mildness of the cli¬ 
mate of New South Wales, are very much longer 
in staple than formerly, and are much used for the 
above object. It is a query, however, whether a 
fine and very compact fleece, possessing a long 
fibre, can be produced on the same sheep. Very 
close, fine fleeces, are always comparatively short 
in staple; and close fleeces are indispensable in our 
rigorous climate, to protect the sheep from the 
effects of cold and wet; on the contrary, open 
