94 SHEEP SHEAEING. 



but, however cruel it may seem, it is almost the only notice 

 that is taken of these useful animals by their unfeeling mas- 

 ters until that time twelvemonth." 



Tne shearing of sheep is performed with great dexterity by 

 experienced shepherds and their assistants; and if proper 

 attention is not paid to the operation, and to the weather, 

 accidents occur. Not unfrequently shorn sheep die of tetanus, 

 or are affected with a peculiarly malignant form of erysipelas. 

 Some very mysterious cases have occurred, in which it ap- 

 peared as if an animal poison was the cause of destruction 

 amongst a flock of shorn sheep. It is necessary to notice, 

 that in hot weather, when sheep are shorn, they should be 

 kept without food for a few hours prior to the operation, and 

 then turned out where there is shelter. It has been the 

 practice in the East, and elsewhere, to clothe sheep after 

 being shorn, or to house them. Nothing can be more ab- 

 surd than imagining that a malignant fever, such as small- 

 pox, should, under any circumstances, originate, owing to a 

 " chill " after shearing. This does not happen. Far more 

 likely to occur are attacks of inflammation of the lungs, and 

 of the skin itself. 



Wool is known in the trade by various names, according 

 to the age and kind of animal it is obtained from. Hog's 

 wool is the term used to indicate the first shorn fleeces of the 

 long, deep-stapled kinds, and tegs to a similar fleece of the 

 shorter kinds. Wether fleeces are those obtained at a second 

 shearing, and "the term ewes is applied, in long-stapled 

 wool, to the shorter, tender, and inferior fleeces which are 

 generally shorn from old or diseased shep; and in short- 

 stapled wools (such as Downs) it is applied to the shorter 

 grown fleeces, generally both ewes and wethers." Skin wool 

 is that kind obtained from sheep slaughtered for human food, 

 and varies much in length, coarseness, &c. 



