Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1876-03-09

ever. there is no defect which renders wool
SO useless for certain classes Of manufacture
as unevenness or break OF continuity Ill the
thickness of the tiber-and there is no defect
more common, and nothing that, year by
year, touches the sheep-grower more severe
lv in that tender part of his anatomy, the
pocket. However good the wool in other
respects, the keen eye OF the buyer singles
out the defective wool, and down goes the
price OF it. And it is not mere fancy that
REGULATES the price, for the uneven wool will
break at the weak places during the first
process of manufacture
Some persons suppose that this uneven
ness of fleece is hereditary in certain animals
and perhaps unevenness may be made
hereditary by generations Of ill-usage and
neglect. But, as the wool of an entire flock
is found to be uneven one year, and not SO
i'm another, it clearly shows that manage
ment has much more to do with it than has
heredity.
If sheep are allowed to get into low con-
dition, are neglected, underfed, or not shell
tered properly, the pores of the skin become
contracted and the wool that issues will be
of very fine fiber. AS soon as the animal re-
covers a vigorous condition the pores OF the
skin again open, and a longer and stronger
fiber grows out. The wool is thus weaker
in one place than in places each side of it,
and breaks at the weak place on the slight
est strain. Nothing induces uneyenness
more easily or surely than want Of water.
It is a common notion that sheep can do
without water, or with very little. If sup
piled with roots daily they will not want
much water, but it is well, and humane,
too, that water should always be within their
reach.
Not only is it important that the fiber
should be even, but the fleece throughout
should be even as regards length, softness,
density and tineness. A practiced woodbury.
er gives the following description of the way
an expert examines a fleece:
"Always assuming that the wool to be
inspected is really a fine wool, we first ex-
anime the shoulder at the part where the
finest and best wool is usually found. This
we take as the standard, and compare it
with, in turn, the wool from the ribs, the
thigh, the rulnp and the hinder parts; and
the nearer the wool from these various por-
lions Of the body approaches the standard,
the better. First, we scrutiniZe the fineness,
and if the result be satisfactory, we pro-
nounce the fleece, in prospect to t%ineness, very
I" even" Next we inquire into the length
Of the staple, and if we find that the wool on
the ribs, thigh and back approximates rea-
sonably in length to that of our standard,
we again declare the sheep, as regards
length of staple, true and even. We next
desire to satisfy ourselves Of the density OF
the fleece, and we do this by closing the
hand upon a portion of the UNI and of the
loin wool, the fleece at these points being
usually the thinnest, and faulty, and if this
again give satisfaction we signify the fact by
designating the wool even !" as respects
density. Now to summarize these separate
examinations: IF you find the fleece of
nearly equal f~ineness from the shoulder to
the thigh of nearly equal length at the
shoulder, rib, thigh, and back and of equal
density at the shoulder and across the loins
-you may conclude that you have a nearly
perfect sheep"
POINTS OF THE DAIRY CoW.-Mr. E. TT.
Seward, of Marengo, N. Y, in giving the
characteristics which he most priced in
=.