THE CULTIVATOR. 
99 
and a far greater number of sheep can now be Fed and perfected on the 
same number of acres, the wool also has been somewhat altered in 
character—it has grown in length, and it has increased in bulk of fibre. 
It has not deteriorated-, but it has changed. If no longer fit for the pur¬ 
poses to which it was once devoted, if has become suited to others. If 
it no longer brings the extravagant price it once did, it meets with a rea¬ 
dier sale. The increase of the number of fleeces, and the increase of 
weight in each fleece, go far to compensate for the diminution of price, 
while the improvement of the carcass more than supplies the deficien¬ 
cy, if in truth there were any: so that, considering the badness of the 
times, and the state of agriculture generally, the sheep is compara¬ 
tively more valuable to the breeder than he was before. This will be 
touched on at greater length when the various breeds of British sheep 
pass in review, and their present state and produce is compared with 
what they were half a century ago. 
Wool is now the subject of consideration, and there can be no doubt 
that in Great Britain it has materially changed its character since the 
introduction of artificial food, and the adoption of the forcing system. 
Mr. Nottage states, of the Western Down sheep, that he used to get 
one-eighth part of the finest English wool from each fleece ; but that 
now the quantity is so small that he does not throw it out: he does not 
set a basket for it at all. Mr. Sutcliffe says, that “thirty years ago 
there was, in some South Down flocks, nearly as good wool grown, as 
the fine German that now comes into our country.’’ Mr. Varley adds, 
that “ he used to throw his wool extremely high to the sort—very good 
to the sort—but he found that the qualities generally were getting so 
low, that if he continued that sort of practice, he should have been 
looking into two of his best bins without finding a bit of wool in them.” 
Mr. Fison states of the Norfolks, that “ in 1780, 420 lbs. of clothing 
wool grown in Norfolk would produce 200lbs. prime—in 1828, it would 
produce only 14 lbs.” 
These are convicting proofs of the effect on the fleece of high keep, 
and the breeding for larger sheep. 
In the early establishment of the improved Leicesters, it was an ac¬ 
cusation, which their most zealous"supporters did not attempt to deny, 
that the wool was sacrificed to the carcass; nay, the very founder of 
that breed of sheep stated to his namesake of Wakefield that “ he had 
no doubt that fine wools might be grown on rich pasture lands by over¬ 
stocking them, and preventing sheep from obtaining more nourishment 
than they had been accustomed to.” 
Dr. Parry, whose observations on sheep-husbandry always deserve 
attention, ar.d whose opinions, except when he was deluded by his 
fondness for the Merinos, are very correct, says that sheep-breeders 
“ had observed a sort of gross connexion between the food and the 
quality of fleece. On the one hand, the staple of a sheep that was 
starved was weak, and the wool dry and unprofitable in the manufac¬ 
ture. On the other hand, the wool of sheep on deep inclosed pasture, 
or on artificial food, was found to be coarser and more intractable than 
that from the downs. On these two simple facts they thought them¬ 
selves qualified to reason, and, as is unavoidable from insufficient pre¬ 
mises, they reasoned falsely. They concluded that the fine herbage of 
the downs necessarily produced fine wool; and that none but coarse 
wool could spring from gross luxuriant food. Neither of these conclu¬ 
sions is precisely true. The fineness of a sheep’s fleece of a given 
breed is, within certain limits, inversely as its fatness, and perhaps also 
(although I am not certain of this point) as the quickness with which 
it grows fat. A sheep which is fat has usually comparatively coarse 
wool, and one which is lean, either from want of food or disease, has 
the finest wool; and the very same sheep may at different times, ac¬ 
cording to these circumstances, have fleeces of all the intermediate qua¬ 
lities from extreme fineness to comparative coarseness.” 
All this is very true and very important; except that opinion, of the 
truth of which Dr. Parry confesses that he is not certain, “ that coarse¬ 
ness of wool and disposition to grow fat are connected. The experi¬ 
ence of the British sheep-master would prove that the finest wooled 
sheep will maintain themselves in tolerable condition where coarser 
ones will starve; and that when both are placed in a situation to exhi¬ 
bit their tendency to fatten quickly, and to a great extent, the fine 
wooled sheep will beat his rival out of the field. 
“ There used to be great controversy with regard to the influence of 
particular kinds of food on the wool. There are no decisive proofs as 
to this. Between diversities of food wholesome and nutritious, there 
will be little to choose; or rather experience will prove that an occa¬ 
sional change of food is not only grateful but advantageous to the 
sheep.” 
TRITENESS. 
Connected with fineness is trueness of staple—as equal a growth as 
possible over the animal—a freedom from the shaggy portions, here 
and there, which are occasionally observed on poor and neglected 
sheep. These portions are always coarse and comparatively worth¬ 
less, and they indicate an irregular and unhealthy action of the secre¬ 
tion of wool, and which will probably weaken or render the fibre dis¬ 
eased in other parts. 
Comprised in trueness of fibre is another circumstance that has been 
already alluded to—a freedom from coarse hairs which project above 
the general level of the wool in various parts, or, if they are not ex¬ 
ternally seen, mingle with the wool and debase its character. 
In the same term, and most important of all, is a freedom from those 
irregularities in the bulk of the fibres of the wool, which render it dif¬ 
ficult at times to give it a definite name and character, and which must 
materially interfere with its usefulness; and also those breaches in the 
wool so singular in their appearance, which have been already de¬ 
scribed, and”the distance of which from the extremity or the root will 
enable the observer, as has been already stated, to calculate the time 
when the imperfection occurred, and which may generally be traced to 
cold or starvation, or to some malady of the skin itself. 
GRAIN WORM. 
The following remarks upon this destructive insect, and its ravages in Great 
Britain, are copied from a communication in the Farmers’ Register: 
The mischief done by the wheat-fly in various parts of the kingdom, 
in the course of the year 1829, and the two preceding years, is fright¬ 
ful to contemplate. In one district in Scotland, (the Carse of Gowrie, 
in Perthshire,) the destruction it occasioned was estimated at little short 
of forty thousand pounds.. In many cases, the crop was not worth the 
cutting down; and in other instances a fourth, a third, or even a half 
of the produce was destroyed. The myriads of this vermin, and the 
facility with which they fly from one field to another, in search of the 
plants in which their eggs can be safely and efficaciously deposited, 
seem to place their depredations beyond the powers of man to control; 
and hence it has been asserted, that the only means of avoiding the 
mischief is, either to give up the culture of wheat until the race is de¬ 
stroyed, by the want of the plants necessary for continuing the species, 
or by patiently'waiting, until seasons destructive to them naturally oc¬ 
cur. If Providence, however, has created so destructive an insect, as 
the tipula tritici, or wheat-fly, it has been no less attentive, to prevent 
its becoming too numerous, by making it the food of other insects. In¬ 
deed, there are no less than three ichneumons, who seem to be entrust¬ 
ed with the important office of restraining, with due limits, the num¬ 
bers of this destructive species, otherwise it would become too nume¬ 
rous to be subdued. The most extraordinary circumstance is, that one 
species of these ichneumons lays an egg near the egg of the fly. They 
are hatched at the same time ; and it is ascertained, that the maggot 
from the egg of the ichneumon, either lays its egg in the body of tire 
caterpillar, when it can get at it, or devours the maggot, and thus pre¬ 
serves the wheat from its attacks. 
It is not here proposed, to enter into any philosophical discussion re¬ 
garding the origin of the wheat-fly. It is sufficient to remark, that in 
the spring, and in the beginning of the summer, a species of fly is fre¬ 
quently found, in great numbers, which attaches itself to the heads of 
wheat, when the ear begins to appear, and where it deposites its eggs, 
which in about ten days after they are placed in the ears, become mag¬ 
gots or caterpillars. These destroy the young pickle, by sucking up 
the milky juice which swells the grain, and thus depriving it of part, 
and in some cases perhaps the whole of its moisture, cause it to shrink 
up, and so to become, what in the western parts of England is called 
punglcd. In about three weeks after, when it has exhausted this sub¬ 
stance, it drops upon the ground, where it shelters itself at the depth 
of about half an inch from the surface. There it remains in a dormant 
state, until the mean temperature is about 50 deg. when, vivified by 
the warmth of spring, it becomes a fly, about the time that the wheat 
produces the ear. 
It is evident, that the same plan, that in our climate has been found 
so effectual for destroying the wire-worm, would be equally destruc¬ 
tive to the wheat-fly, namely, that of leaving the soil which has pro¬ 
duced the wheat untouched till November, and then exposing it to the 
inclemency of the weather, and in particular to the action of frost. 
It has been remarked, that the greatest mischief is usually done to 
the late sown wheats, and that such as are sown early, receive little or 
no injury. When the grain has arrived at a certain degree of hardness 
and consistency, (which may be the case with the early sown wheats, 
before the insect has made any material progress, or even commenced 
its operations,) the plant is not so liable to be injured. 
It is much to be lamented that so important an object as the means 
of preventing the destruction of our most valuable crops of grain, 
should not have attracted the attention of government; by whose 
means discoveries might be made, which can never be expected from 
private exertions. By public encouragement, the inquiry would be 
carried on with energy, and probed to the bottom; and the most effect¬ 
ual means of preventing the mischief would probably be ascertained. 
What subject can be compared to it in point of importance ? At pre¬ 
sent, we are liable every year, not only to the loss of some millions 
worth of grain, but to all the mischiefs of scarcity, and even of famine. 
These would not probably be experienced in this country, were the ra¬ 
vages of insects, and the destruction by the mildew prevented; objects 
