Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1886 [PAGE 238]

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230 This property of fineness establishes in a general way the classification of the wools of different breeds, but of course it never •enters into minute comparisons except as between wools from different animals of the Merino race. As between the four principal breeds studied, these range from finest to coarsest—Merino, Southdown, Lincoln, Cotswold. In the Merino wool, although the weight of fleece secured constitutes most frequently the important consideration and is made the subject of special prize at the fairs and shearings, fineness at the same time should and does form a no less important term of comparison. AH other things being equal, the finest wool is of course the best. Conditions which modify and increase the fineness should be studied with the greatest care. In some cases it appears that it is not altogether consistent with the greatest vigor of constitution, but it does appear that it may be modified to a marked degree by breeding and by care. Selections in breeding should be made with this regard as carefully as with regard to size and form of carcass or to strength of constitution, and are as likely to afford satisfactory results. In the American Merino the fineness will vary from 5 to 15 per centum of the average diameter of the fibre, and this variation may be ascribed to differences in the condition of the animal as regards health, nutrition, and the care it receives. Continued good health, good food, protection from the inclemencies of the weather, showr their influence in the production of very even staple of the best quality, while deficiency in either respect will leave its impress upon the fibre in the way of the variations we have referred to. It is an interesting fact that the fineness of the fibre throughout its length forms a fairly good record of the condition of the animal producing it at the several stages of growth, any defection being shown in the diminished diameter of the fibre. These facts teach an important lesson that need not be expressed. My study of wools was extended not only to the Merino wools of the present generation both of this country and Europe, but to the flocks of 1815, those of the celebrated breeders Wells and Dickinson. The results of the measurements show that the wools of the Wells and Dickinson flocks were even coarser than the long-wooled Merinos of the present decade, showing that the American system while it lias increased the weight of the fleece many fold has also improved the fineness. But in the latter the variations throughout the length of the fibre show the necessity for greater care in the management of flocks. The same remark applies in comparing the American with the foreign product. Whether or not it be due to any more abrupt changes in our climate than in that of Europe, it is nevertheless a fact that while the American product is fully as fine it is not always as even throughout its length or from fibre to fibre. German records have shown that the weight of the fleece in Merino breeds increases with advancing age until the third or fourth year, after which there is a gradual decline in the weight of the fleece. Measurements of fineness show that the fibre also grows coarser with increase in the age of the animal. There is another condition in the American Merino that has an important influence upon the uniformity of fineness throughout the fleece, and because of the discussion it has aroused, we naturally