Volume 01: Production and resources of the northern and western districts of New South Wales, 1854 [ca. 1850-1857] - Page 245

It must be distinctly understood that the softness of true bred wool is very different from the softness of the short tender fleece which has been bred from it. That is generally exceedingly soft, but in proportion to its invariable deficiency in Soundness & fulness it will be found dull, dead, & cottony. The sound wool has the softness of silk, the tender that of rare Cotton.

THE AUSTRALIAN MERINO DESCRIBED

Let us examine the animal producing the "good bred Australian wool" above described, fine as the finest, and at the same time possessing perfect soundness, with extreme pliability, softness, fineness & fulness, with as great length of staple as the pasture & climate will support. See how lovely it looks, how bright yet gentle its eye what a fine frame, square, deep and compact, yet how light and active its carriage. How beautiful & even in its fleece, covering the whole body from eye to hock. When it moves what an even wave as it rises & falls, without one staple rising above another. On closer examination it proves as valuable as it is beautiful. See how clear & bright the wool appears, & how slightly its fineness decreases to the breach, so gradually as to be almost imperceptable, & without the least falling off in any manufacture quality. Look between the points of the shoulders & up to the neck, it is still perfectly free & soft. Look down the centre of the back; the staples are a little shorter, but not in the least tender or smusby, they are perfectly sound & free. Open the fleece in any part, it is free bright & closely set on. It has every quality that can be desired for beauty & profit, it is in fact the pure Australian Merino.

PREJUDICES ENTERTAINED AGAINST FINE WOOL SHEEP

Strong prejudices are entertained against fine wool Sheep, on account of their alleged light fleece & weakly constitution. The weight of the German & Spanish fleeces at once prove that lightness is not an indispensable accompaniment of fineness. it has been so in New south Wales, but how could it be otherwise, when for years sheep were bred for fineness without quality & consequently without quantity. At all events these prejudices are untenable against the pure Australian Merino. A strong constitution it must have, for the wool described will never be produced but by a lively healthy animal; and as to weight of fleece, if with fineness there is fulness & length and there is no reason why there should not be there can be no loss of weight, as there will be numbers of fibres to fill the space now occupied by thickness.

With due attention to the specified qualities, the breeder will obtain both weight of fleece & weight of carcase; if he negligent then on his own head be it not upon those of the

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Volume 01: Production and resources of the northern and western districts of New South Wales, 1854 [ca. 1850-1857] - Page 245

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Volume 01: Production and resources of the northern and western districts of New South Wales, 1854 [ca. 1850-1857] - Page 245

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