10. _Lower parts of the legs:_ This wool is generally dirty and greasy, the staple having no wave and lacking fineness. It is generally burry and contains much vegetable matter.
11. _Front of Head_; 12. _Throat_; 13. _Chest:_ The wools from these parts are sometimes classed together, all having the same characteristics. The fiber is stiff, straight, coarse, and covered with fodder.
14. _Shins:_ This is another short, thick, straight wool of glossy fiber, commonly known as shanks.
=Classing.= Classing is a grading of the fleeces, and is usually, but not always, a process preliminary to sorting. It is an important part of sorting, and when well done greatly facilitates the making of good, uniform matchings.
=Grades of Wool.= In the grading of wool no set standard of quality exists. The same classification may be applied in different years, or in different localities, to qualities of wool showing much variation, the best grade obtainable usually setting the standard for the lower grades. The highest quality of wool in the United States is found on full-blooded Merino sheep.
=Merino Wool.= The Merino sheep was bred for wool and not mutton. The fleece of this breed is fine, strong, elastic, and of good color; it also possesses a high felting power. Though naturally short, it is now grown to good length and the fleece is dense. The Merino sheep is a native of Spain, and Spain was for a long period the chief country of its production. It was also in past centuries extensively bred in England and English wool owes much to the Merino for the improvement it has effected in the fleeces of other breeds of English sheep. It was also introduced into Saxony and was highly bred there, and Saxony soon came to surpass Spanish wool in fineness, softness, and felting properties. The Merino was introduced into the United States at the beginning of the nineteenth century. By 1810, 5,000 Merino sheep had been imported and these 5,000 sheep formed the basis of most of the fine wool-producing flocks of our country to-day.
The terms half blood, three-eighths blood, and quarter blood refer to the full-blooded Merino standard. As the scale descends the wool becomes coarser, the wool of a quarter blood usually being a comparatively coarse fiber. The general classifications of fine, medium, coarse, and low, refer to the relative fineness of Merino combing wools. These distinctions naturally overlap according to the opinion of the parties in transactions. Picklock XXX and XX represent the highest grades of clothing wool, the grade next lower being X, and then Nos. 1 and 2. These again are used in connection with the locality from which the wool is grown, as Ohio XX, Michigan X, New York No. 1, etc.