470 Transactions of the 



ing him to be at his very best. A poor appearance indeed would some 

 northern sheep present, if shorn late, in the eyes of a southern buyer 

 who comes up to select rams and take them home and use them in time 

 to have the lambs come the following December or January. 



SHEARING, CLEANLINESS, ETC. 



Shearing is best done on a clean barn floor, and all large sheep ranches 

 are provided with shearing barns at the home place. If a proper barn 

 cannot be had, most shearing corrals, by dampening down and special 

 attention to cleanliness, can be made to do in a rough way. It is true 

 that buyers have not apparently discriminated against merely dirty 

 wool as much as some growers would expect. The reason is, that this 

 kind of dirt does not make a large part of the total weight lost in scour- 

 ing; and certain seeds may be more troublesome to the manufacturer 

 than mere dirt; thus he has come to give more consideration to these 

 other elements of condition, along with those that go to make up qual- 

 ity, in making his price, than to the mere presence of a greater or less 

 quantity of dirt. But although clean and well packed lots of wool have 

 been the exception in California, it is the truth that this condition does 

 help the sale. Especially if wools be at all slow in the market, the 

 dirtier lots will be passed over by buyer after buyer, and the cleaner 

 ones sold first. And further, a clip that habitually comes to hand in ex- 

 ceptionalty good condition is practically sold as soon as it is shipped 

 from the ranch, for previous buyers are always ready to take it on ar- 

 rival at the top value of the market according to its quality. It is often 

 a convenience to the grower to get ready and favorable "accommoda- 

 tion" from his commission merchant, and this is granted most readily 

 and most favorably when it is known that the clip will " go off" promptly 

 and at full value as soon as received. Besides being dirty, wool is some- 

 times fraudulently packed. Some growers have simply watered the 

 fleeces to make a gain in weight; others have thrown in with them any- 

 thing that may have been lying about the corral, whether wool, bags, 

 dung, or lumps of a< J obe. The writer saw one bale of wool sold during 

 the high prices of two years ago that contained one old boot and a worn 

 out apple-paring machine. I have not yet heard of a gang plow or six- 

 horse wagon being found in a wool sack, but nearly every other piece of 

 farm refuse has at one time or another turned up amongst the California 

 wool clip. 



SHEARING PENS. 



Having a clean floor on which to shear it may be divided off into pens 

 by the movable panels heretofore described, in whatever way may be 

 most handy, so as to have one place for the sheep to stand, another place 

 for the shearer, and a third for the wool when shorn. A chute for part- 

 ing, such as heretofore described, will also be rigged. The arrangement 

 represented in the following diagram may suit some: 



