444, QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jun, 1898. 
Crossbred._Sheep bred from two distinct varieties, such as merino and 
any of the long-wool breeds, and merino and any of the down breeds. 
Stag, or ram stag, is a ram emasculated after being used as a sire. ” 
Yolk.—The natural grease or oily matter in the wool of sheep. 
Black tip.—This is the formation of the yolk into a hard black spot on 
the outer edge of the fibres of wool. 
Staple.—The length cf the wool fibre. A long staple of merino wool may 
reach 5 inches, a short one be just over 1+ inches. 
Combing wool is merino wool that is sufficiently long in the fibre to be 
worked by the combing machine. Anything over 1? inches is now called 
combing wool. Formerly it was required to be longer. 
Clothing wool is any merino wool that is under 14 inches in length of 
fibre. 
Kemps are white hairs seen in badly bred merino wool. ‘These are 
objectionable, as they do not take the dye like true wool, and their presence 
reduces the value of the wool per pound. 
Lock.—This term is applied to the way the wool grows on the sheep’s 
body. Thus, the Lincoln wool has a heavy blunt lock. Small pointed locks 
are not Jiked by sheep farmers. Such fleeces do not weigh well. 
Locks.—The stained wool and coarse pieces sometimes growing low down 
on the thighs of merino sheep; in fact, all dirty, coarse, or badly seeded parts 
of the fleece are termed locks. | 
Pieces.—These are the parts of the fleece not sufficiently coarse, stained, 
or seedy as to go with the locks, and yet not good enough to go with the 
fleece. 
Break in wool.—This is a weak spot in the fibre caused by deficient growth 
during a period of illness, starvation, or exposure to very severe storms. 
Where the break occurs the wool is much weaker than elsewhere. 
Dags.—This term is applied to the lumps of manure formed on the wool 
under the sheep’s tail, owing to the animal having scoured through a rush of 
young grass or other cause. Longwools are apt to have dags. tbe 
KAFIR CORN IN BEEF-MAKING. 
Everyone knows how hard and gritty Kafir corn is, and little is as yet known 
from actual test of its real value as compared with Indian corn for fattening 
beef-cattle. In view of this fact, the experiment station at the Kansas 
State Agricultural College, under the supervision of Prof. C. CO. Georgeson, 
set about an investigation of the matter, and a summary of the results is as 
follows :— 
For the first ten days 15 steers, whick had been dehorned but had perfectly 
recovered, were kept on good grass pasture, but without grain. 
From 15th October to 8rd November (1896) they were gradually accus- 
tomed to grain feed consisting of equal parts of corn* and white and red Kafir 
corn. Beginning with 2 lb. per head daily, the quantity was graduaily increased 
to 16 1b. The experiment then began by weighing the steers in three lots of 
five each. The five head in No. 1 lot averaged 1,086 lb.; in lot 2, 1,021 lb.; 
in lot 8, 1,025 1b. The three lots were put in separate yards with an open 
shed for shelter. Lot 1 was fed on cornmeal, lot 2 on red Kafir cornmeal, 
lot 3 on white Kafir cornmeal. All lots were fed the same quantities of 
grain and fodder. By so doing, any difference in gain could fairly be attributed 
to the quality of the grain. 
Beginning with 16 Ib. per head, the quantity was gradually increased to 
98 lb. for each lot cf five. For “roughness” they were fed a fine quality 
of Kafir corn fodder, which had matured a crop of grain, and from which the 
By “corn,’ maiz is understood. 
