THE SHEEP. - 129

of being felted. “Cloth and woollen goods are made from
wool possessing this property; the wool is carded, spun,
and woven, and then being put into the fulling-mill, the
process of felting takes place; the strokes of the mill make
the fibres cohere, the piece subjected to the operation con-
tracts in length and breadth, and its texture becomes more
compact and uniform. ‘This process is essential to the
beauty and strength of woollen cloth, but the long wool, of
which stuffs and worsted goods are made, is deprived of its
felting properties. This is done by passing the wool
through heated iron’ combs, which takes away the lamins,
or feathery part of the wool, and approximates a to the
nature of silk or cotton*.”

Sheep are amongst the most useful of our domestic ani-
mals: they supply us with nourishing food, furnish one of
the principal materials for clothing, and the dressed skin is
also used for different parts of our apparel, and for covering
books; the milk is very thick and rich, and the manure
yielded is most profitable to the farmer. “There pro-
bably is not a species amongst all our domestic animals,”
says Mr. Bell, “which, in its historical associations, is so
interesting as the sheep. Its early domestication, its em-

* M‘Calloch.
K