FIG. 115.--These peaceful looking sheep provide our wool clothing.]
=Have you ever seen sheep sheared of their wool?= Perhaps it is done on your farm. Sheep are usually sheared only once a year, in April or May. If there are only a few sheep, it is easy to use the hand shears like those in the picture (Fig. 117); but where there are many sheep, the machine clippers must be used. These clipping machines can be run by hand or other power. They shear close and save wool. Notice the machine which the man in the picture (Fig. 118) is using; it is just like the one Mr. Allen uses. Frank or John sometimes helps. The coating of wool from one sheep is called a fleece. On the large sheep ranches of the West the fleeces are tied into bundles, and these bundles are put in sacks holding about 400 pounds to be shipped to certain wool-purchasing centers where the buyers examine the wool and buy in quantities.
[Illustration: FIG. 116.--Wool fibers magnified.]
=What do you know about the sheep industry?= Our sheep industry is very important. The western states, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Oregon, support about 38 million sheep. That is a large family to shear and feed.
[Illustration: FIG. 117.--The hand shears.]
Other countries grow sheep for clothing wools, too. Australia, England, South Africa, South America, Spain, and Germany all give much attention to sheep raising.
[Illustration: _Courtesy of Chicago Flexible Shaft Co._
This industry is very old. We read in the Bible that wool was used long ago and that King David of Israel wrote psalms as he tended his sheep on the hillside. Abel, the brother of Cain, was a keeper of sheep. Can you find these stories in the Bible? Writers of many ages tell about wool--Pliny, Homer, and Virgil. Alexander too, when he journeyed to India in early days, saw beautiful woolen shawls being made.
=Some sheep give a better quality of wool than others.= The Merino wool is the very finest. The camel furnishes a beautiful soft fiber. Then, there is the angora goat of Asia Minor, which provides us with mohair. This is a lovely soft fiber resembling silk. Can you find this country on your map? Look for Peru and for Chili. The sheep there furnish the alpaca and llama wools.