Page:Acclimatisation; its eminent adaptation to Australia.djvu/13

11 one of the objects of the Acclimatisation Society ought to he directed to this important point.

In the wild sheep, the woolly variety of hair is developed in excess, and in the domesticated races the fleece has been modified and improved in various degrees, by crossing the breeds, by choice of climate and pasturage, and by careful attention and defence during its growth, until not only has the original coarse character of the product disappeared, but qualities of wool of various kinds and of different degrees of superiority have been obtained, generally divisible into two classes, one better adapted for "carding," the other for "combing," and both available for a great variety of useful and elegant textile fabrics.

Idle primitive fleece of the sheep was, no doubt, a mixture of hair and wool, and the effects of climate, cross-breeding, and careful attention, have developed the character of the wool. The Merino sheep of Spain (a race originally imported from England), and the flocks in this colony are pre-eminent as wool-bearers. It is probable that in the early ages of man's history the shepherds may have selected for breeding those individuals on which the wool predominated, and that by following up this system, aided by excessive care, the sheep gradually attained its present condition, so that a wool-bearing breed became at length permanently established.

In the Great Exhibition of 1851, among the wools shown in the French department was one "of singular and peculiar properties, the hair glossy and silky, similar to mohair, retaining at the same time certain properties of the Merino breed of sheep." This was known as the Mauchamp variety, and the produce of a peculiar variety of the Merino breed of sheep. The report of that department states that an inquiry was held, not only of its commercial value and application, but into the particulars of the production of this new kind of wool. It was found to be one of the very few instances in which the origination of a distinct variety of a domestic quadruped could be satisfactorily traced, with all the circumstances attending its development well authenticated. In the year 1828, one of the ewes of the flock of Merinos in the farm of Mauchamp produced a male lamb, which, as it grew up, became remarkable for the long, smooth, straight, and silky character of the fibre of the wool, and for the smoothness of its horns. It was of small size, and presented certain defects in its conformation which have disappeared in its descendants. In 1829, M. Graux, the proprietor of the farm, employed this ram with a view of obtaining