Agricultural, & c.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1216, 28 October 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

Agricultural, & c.

SELECTION OF SHEEP. For the following we are .Indebted'to Mr. .Randall:™ " Carcass,—Carcass in unquestionably the flrst.pointtobe regarded, even infine-woolled sheep-bccauic on the proper constitution, or the proper structure and c'onneotlonof its parts, depends tha health, vigour, and hardiness of the 'animal; and without those all other qualities are as houses built on sand. Plump medium sizo, for the breed or variety, is the most desirablo one. The body should be round and.doep, not over long:, and both the head and neck short and thick, Tho back should be straight and broad; the bosom and buttock full; the legs decidedlyshort, well apart, straight, and strong, with heavy fore-arm fulness in tho twist. This ' pony-built' figure indicates hardiness, easiness of keep, and a predisposition to take on flesh. " Skin.—The skin should be of a rich, deop rosy color. Tho Spaniards ever justly regarded this a point of much importance, as indicative of fattening or easy-keeping properties of tho animal, and of a normal and healthy condition of the system. The skin, should be thinuish, mellow, elastic,, and particularly loose on the carcass, v A whito'skin, when tho animal is in health, or a tawny one, is rarely .found on_ a high-bred morino. A thick, stiff, inelastic skin, like that found on many under-bred French sheep,-is highly objectionable. " {''olds,—The Spanish, French, and German breeders approve of folds in the skin, considering them indications of a heavy fleeco. Tho French have bred them over the entire bodies of many of their sheep. I have seen two hours and a halfexponded by an active and skilful shearer in getting the fleece decently off a ram of this stamp. A deep,' soft, plaited dowlap' on both sexes, and some slight comigation on the neck of the ram. were all our old breeders of tho merino desired in this way. The fashion has extended to heavy neck folds, particularly on the ram, a short fold or two on tlio hack oi tho elbow, and some small ones round and on tho roots of tho tail, and on tho breech—the latter running in the direction of lines drawn from tho tail to the stifle. Gentle corrugations over tho body, which can bo pulled smouth in shearing, are also tolerated.

" Fleece. —Wool long onough to do up in the fleece is not desirablo on the nose, udder the oyes, or 011 the legs below the knees end hocks, though a thick cont of shortist wool on the latter, nnd particularly ontlio liintl-legs, is regarded as a good point. The arm-pits aud most of the base of the scrotum must necessarily be bare; but these cavities should be iis small as tlio freedom of movement permits; and all the other p,iris of the body and limbs should bo densoly covered with wool of as uniform a length as is attainable, It is a specially fine characteristic to see it of lull length on the belly, forehead, nntl cheek?, and on the legs as far down as' tlio ' kness and hocks.

" The wool should stand at right angles to the surface, except on tho inside of the legs and on the scrotum; it should present a dense, smooth, even surface externally, dropping apart nowhere; and tho masses of wool botweon those natural cracks or divisions which are always seen on tho surface should be of modium character, If tbey are too small, they indicate a fineness of fleece which is incompatible with its proper weight,- if toff large, they indicate coarse, harsh wool. "The good properties of wool are too woll understood W)require many .words, Length is no longer an objection to the finest staple, as it once was. The nunmum, both of thickness and length, cannot be attained on tho samo animal, and the object of the breeder should be to produce that particular combination or ■co-existence of these properties which will give -the heaviest fleece.

■ " Fineness,—The grower knows his markot, and must produce an articlo adapted to it. In the American market there is a much larger demand for medium than fine wools, and tho former commands much the best price in proportion to cost of production. It is to be hoped, however, that the demand for fine wools will increase. Whatever the quality aimed at, it should be tlio saine tlirougliout the flock, so far as it is practicable. "Evenness.—Evenness of quality ineveiy part of the fleece, so far as this can be attained, is ono of tho first points of a woll-brcd sheep. Tar is very objection,iblo, but not so much so ns what the Germans torm dog's hair-hair growing out through tlio wool on the thighs, the edges of the neck folds, about the roots of the horns in

rams, or standing scattered here and there through the fleece, or inside tho legs. This indicate bad blood, or a defective courso of breeding. "Fineness and Soundness.—Wool should be of equal diameter from the root to the point of the fibre. It should bo especially frco from any finer or weaker spot, or 'joint,' in it, occasioned by a temporary illness, or other low state of the animal. This can often be detected by the naked eye. and always by pulling the fibre. Wool is saiil to be sound when it is strong nnd elastic.

"Pliancy and Soptxebs arc consider,!-' tions of the first Importance, not only as indicia of other qualities, but Intrinsically, If we can suppose' two lots of wool exactly to resemble each other in every other particular, but that, under the same treatment one is comparatively stiff and hard to the touch, while the other has a silky pliancy and softness, the latter is decidedly the most valuable, because, it will produce manufactured articles far superior in beauty anil for actual use. Bnt, in point of fact, full-blood wool is 'invariably soft in proportion lo ita marketablo value. A practiced buyer can decide on tliat value in the dark, " Style is, perhaps, a word which has rather Tagueboundaries to ils meaning; but it includes , that combination of useful and showy properties which give value to the choicest wool-yiz., fineness of colour, lustre, uniformity and boaiity of covering, and that peculinr mode of opening on the body, or disposition of the fibres in the shorn fleece, which indicate the Inst extreme of pliancy and softness. These qualities, in combination, present an appearance which at once, without a sufficiently close inspection to discover. the separate fibres, or. even without, a touch of , tho liand, point out the best fleece in tbo pile,