THE CULTIVATOR. 
71 
Fig. 2. 
•whefe it enters into the lower part of the open canal of the chimney, 
there the three walls which form the two covings and the back of the 
fireplace should all end abruptly, without any slope, which will render 
it more difficult for any wind from above to force its way through the 
narrow passage of the threat of the chimney. The back and covings 
should rise 5 or 6 inches higher than the breast of the chimney. 8. The 
current of air which, passing under the mantle, gets into the chimney, 
should be made gradually to bend its course upwards: by which means it 
will unite quietly with the ascending current of smoke. This is effect¬ 
ed with the greatest ease and certainty, merely by rounding off the 
breast of the chimney, or back part of the mantle, instead of leaving it 
flat or full of holes and corners. Fig. 1 shows the section of a chim 
ney on the common construction, in which d e is the throat. Fig. 5 
shows a section of the same chimney altered and improved, in which 
d i is the reduced throat, four inches in the direction of d i, and thir¬ 
teen inches in a line parallel to the mantle.— Dick. 
THE SHEEP.— {Continued from page 55.) 
PERIODICAL DECIBENCE OF WOOL AND HAIR. 
Wool is distinguished from hair by the manner in-which it separates 
from the animal, and is renewed. Most of those animals whose cover¬ 
ing is hair, renew their coat at least once in the year : in the horse it 
is shed twice—in the spring and the autumn. This is evident enough 
in the colt, and in the farmer’s horse, whose coat is often exposed, al 
most as much as in a state of nature, to the influence and occasional 
inclemency of the seasons: but when they are domesticated and sta¬ 
bled, the process is far from being regularly conducted; it appears to 
be in a manner suspended, but it is, in fact, going on all the year 
round. In the deer it has its regular period; less so in the ox, and 
least of all in the dog: but in all of them, when the pulpy substance 
at the root of the hair ceases to be supplied, and, losing its support, 
the hair is detached and falls off, the different fibres separate, as it 
were, one by one. The old hair and the new remain together for a 
season, and no part of the skin is left at any time bare. The period 
of the reproduction of the hair is very often connected with disease 
and almost invariably so with loss of power. The human being, how 
ever, is not, like these quadrupeds, subject to an annual renewal of 
the covering of the skin; the hair once produced, continues to grow 
for many a year, perhaps for life, by prolongation from the root. 
There is considerable difficulty respecting this change of external 
covering in the sheep. It has been commonly believed that there is a 
periodical moulting, or separation from the old fleece from that which 
is growing underneath; and there is no doubt, that the greater part of 
the whole of the fleece of the more neglected breeds, begins about the 
commencement of summer, to detach itself from the pelt; and much 
of it would be lost if its separation were not anticipated by the appli¬ 
cation of the shears. On the other hand, the wool of the lamb that 
was dropped in the winter or spring, shows no disposition to separate 
but continues to grow; and the observation of this has. introduced a 
practice, the advantage of which will hereafter be considered, of leav¬ 
ing the hogget wool, for the first sixteen or eighteen months, to acquire 
additional length of staple. The Merino sheep affords a singular 
proof how easily the annual change of the fleece—if annual change 
there is—may be suspended in the domesticated state of that animal. 
Lord Western has retained the wool of the Merino, without the slight¬ 
est disposition to separate, during three years. The experiment was 
also tried at Rambouillet, and the fleece remained on, firm and healthy 
during five years. It had attained its utmost growth at the fourth 
year, when it was 13 inches long; but it had no disposition to separate 
from the skin, and probably it would not have fallen off during the 
life of the sheep. There were not merely a few cases of this, but the 
experiment succeeded in every sheep on which it was tried. 
THE FORM OF THE FIBRE. 
The fibre of the wool, having penetrated the skin and escaped from 
the yolk, is of a circular form, (varying in diameter in different breeds, 
and in different parts of the same fleece,) generally larger towards the 
extremity and also towards the root, and in some instances very con¬ 
siderably so. 
The filaments of white wool, when cleaned from grease, are semi¬ 
transparent; their surface in some places is beautifully polished, in 
others curiously encrusted, and they reflect the rays of light in a very- 
pleasing manner. When viewed by the aid of a powerful achromatic 
microscope, the central part of the fibre has a singularly glittering ap¬ 
pearance. Very irregularly placed minuter filaments are seen branch¬ 
ing from the main trunk, like boughs from the principal stem. This 
exterior polish varies much in different wools, and in wools from the 
same breed of sheep at different times. When the animal is in good 
condition and the fleece healthy, the appearance of the fibre is really 
brilliant; but when the sheep have been half-starved, the wool seems 
to have sympathized with the state of the constitution, and either a 
wan, pale light, or sometimes scarcely any, is reflected. 
If any great and injudicious alteration has taken place in the ma¬ 
nagement of the sheep during any period of the year, although the 
fibre may continue to preserve a portion of its brilliancy, a very con¬ 
siderable difference in its appearance will be immediately delected. 
Some have said, (but our microscopical observations on wool will show 
that to be scarcely possible,) that occasionally the change in the struc¬ 
ture of the filament is so great that a certain length of hair is interposed 
between two portions of wool; often, however, close observation will 
discover a remarkable diminution of the bulk of the fibre, a withered 
and opake surface, and a partial loss of the characteristic serrations 
and cones. These wools are much deteriorated in value; they will 
give way under the operation of the comb, and injure or spoil the ma¬ 
nufacture in which they are used. A microscope is not always needed 
in order to discover this change in the wool; but if such an instrument 
is at hand—and no wool-stapler or wool-grower should be without one 
—the semi-transparency of the wool, and the opacity of the hair—and 
the roundness and fullness of the healthy fibre, and withered appear¬ 
ance of the joint, or breach, as it is called, will form a singular contrast. 
As a general rule, the filament is most transparent in the best and 
most useful wools, whether long or short. It increases with the im¬ 
provement of the breed, and the fineness and healthiness of the fleece ; 
yet it must be acknowledged that some wools have different degrees of 
transparency and opacity which do not appear to affect their utility or 
value. In the Vigonian wools the staple is nearly opake, but the wool 
is remarkable for its smoothness and silky texture. It is, however, 
the difference of transparence in the same fleece or in the same fila¬ 
ment that is chiefly to be noticed as impairing the value of the wool. 
Mr. Luccock speaks of some families of sheep in which the pile is 
flat and smooth, like a small bar of finely polished steel. A few fila¬ 
ments of this kind, the author has observed, but they have seldom 
been sufficiently numerous to be regarded as constituting the character 
of the fleece, and in the decided number of cases, the appearance has 
been altogether deceptive. It has arisen from the direction in which 
the light has fallen on the object; and the lamp being raised or lower¬ 
ed, or drawn on one side, the seemingly flattened bar assumed its cir¬ 
cular but withered form. These sheep had been cruelly neglected, the 
secretion of the woolly fibre had never been healthily discharged, and 
the whole fleece, or a great portion of it, might be said to have assum¬ 
ed a breachy character. 
SIR WILLIAM JONES. 
This man, so remarkable for liis literary labors, for industry, and 
methodical habits, never was known to depart from the rules contain¬ 
ed in a few simple maxims, which he often repeated. 
The first wasj never to neglect any opportunity of improvement 
which presented itself. 
The second was, that whatever had been attained, was attainable 
by him; and that therefore the real or supposed difficulties of any pur¬ 
suit formed no reason why he should not engage in it with perfect con¬ 
fidence of success. 
The third was, not to be deterred by any difficulties which were sur¬ 
mountable, from prosecuting to a successful termination that which he 
had once deliberately undertaken. 
It was by attending to these maxims, that he was enabled to accu¬ 
mulate a vast mass of knowledge, and to accomplish labors of a mag¬ 
nitude seldom surpassed. 
Young Men's Department. 
(For the Cultivator.) 
EARLY IMPRESSIONS. 
The tendency which the mind receives in early life, it inclines to fol¬ 
low in advancing years. Our first impressions take the deepest root, 
