THE SHEEP. 



so far protect themselves from harm ; but where 

 the country is bare, it will be necessary to erect 

 artificial walls or inclosures of turf and stone, to 

 which they can be led in cases of emergency. On 

 the exposed hillsides of Scotland, it is usual to 

 build circular folds, locally termed stells, of suffi- 

 cient size for a cut, or parcel of sheep. The stell 

 is a rude inclosure, formed of a stone and turf 

 wall about four feet in height, and is placed on a 

 piece of ground known to be seldom drifted. 

 Besides these, there should be on every sheep- 

 farm ample and conveniently situated folds for 

 the various sortings of sheep, such as for weaning 

 lambs, shearing, and draughting or drawing out 

 any animals required. Such folds are ordinarily 

 constructed ofjtafos, or movable wooden palings, 

 and occasionally of rope-netting. 



Washing Shearing WooL 



Previous to shearing, all the sheep should be 

 collected, and washed, to rid the fleece of im- 

 purities. Mr Boyd makes the following observa- 

 tions on washing and shearing : 



' We would strongly recommend that the river- 

 washing of sheep should be abandoned, and that 

 for ever ; and that pond-washing should invariably 

 be substituted in its place. . . . The pond ought 

 rather to be small in size than otherwise, so that 

 the heat of the animal's body may have the effect 

 of raising the temperature of the water, which will 

 assist the washing in no small degree. It has 

 long been a well-ascertained fact, that when wool 

 has been so perfectly washed on the sheep's back 

 that it can be put to the machinery without being 

 previously scoured, it not only requires less oil in 

 the preparation, but is less apt to gilt during the 

 process of manufacture, scours better, and is ulti- 

 mately an article of greater purity. 



' The result of the Edinburgh and Leith wool- 

 sales, by public auction, holds out every induce- 

 ment to the flock-masters in Scotland who have 

 not hitherto been very particular in the washing 

 of their sheep, to be more so in future, as the 

 best washed clips at these sales have invariably 

 commanded a higher remuneration to the pro- 

 ducer than those which had been indifferently 

 washed. The practical manufacturer, in estimat- 

 ing the comparative value of a well and ill 

 washed clip of wool, not only takes into account 

 the quality, but the probable reduction which will 

 take place in reducing the ill washed to the same 

 degree of cleanness as the well washed ; and from 

 his daily experience in witnessing the various 

 degrees of reduction which take place in the 

 scouring of the fleeces, he is the best qualified to 

 give an opinion on the subject ; as also to give an 

 accurate estimate of the expense of the scouring 

 and drying, besides the carriage of so much filth 

 contained in the ill-washed wool, which cannot, at 

 the most moderate calculation, be less than is. 6d. 

 a stone. 



' Sheep, after being washed, ought to be driven 

 to a clean pasture-field, and there remain three 

 or four days before they are clipped. Before 

 commencing the shearing of sheep, they ought 

 to be carefully examined, to ascertain whether 

 or not they are really ready for being shorn. 

 Few greater errors can be committed in the 

 management of stock than that of too early 

 clipping. The practice is highly injurious, both 

 to fat and lean stock, and not only retards their 



improvement, but not unfrequently originates 

 organic disease, both acute and chronic. . . . 

 Sheep invariably lose weight more rapidly by 

 being exposed to the cold in this manner, than 

 by taking no small portion of their food from 

 them; and it is a well-ascertained fact, that if 

 once you allow animals to deteriorate in condi- 

 tion, it requires no ordinary care and attention to 

 restore them to their wonted health and condition. 

 Experiments have been frequently tried with 

 feeding-sheep, by shearing a portion of them 

 early in the season, and allowing the others to 

 remain undipped for some time longer ; and the 

 results have invariably been in favour of those 

 that were last shorn. It will be readily admitted 

 by those who have a practical knowledge of the 

 management of stock, that if too early clipping 

 of feeding-sheep is injurious, it will be still more 

 so to lean hill-stock, which, owing to their re- 

 duced condition, are less able to bear the shock 

 of so sudden a transition. Turnip-fed sheep, and 

 those that have been kept in an improving con- 

 dition during the winter and spring months, are 

 ready for shearing at any time that may suit the 

 convenience of the store-master, provided the 

 weather is suitable for the operation ; but widely 

 different is the case with hill-stock, which, gener- 

 ally speaking, deteriorate in condition during the 

 winter and spring months, and whose wool invari- 

 ably ceases growing sooner or later, which is in a 

 great measure regulated by the weather or the 

 scarcity of food ; and under no consideration 

 whatever ought they to be clipped until the new 

 growth of wool, which appears as the pasture gets 

 more abundant, and which acts as a protection 

 from both heat and cold. It is no matter how- 

 ever favourable the weather may be, and otherwise 

 suitable for the shearing of the flocks, if they are 

 not ready for it When relieved of their winter 

 covering, while the new growth is so thin and 

 short, they are not unfrequently as much dis- 

 tressed by heat as by cold, and in many situations 

 experience great difficulty in finding a place to 

 shelter them from the burning rays of the sun. 

 Nor, in all our experience, have we ever found 

 that the early shearing of hill-stock had the effect 

 of inducing a rapid or an immediate growth of 

 new wool, but rather the reverse. Every shepherd 

 of experience and observation must have noticed 

 that sheep that were not clipped until the middle 

 of July, have a much more abundant and healthier- 

 looking fleece by the latter end of August, than 

 those that had been shorn some weeks before 

 then. The injurious results produced in con- 

 sequence of early clipping are not confined to 

 the sheep themselves ; the lambs, too, are often 

 seriously injured by the falling off of the milk 

 from the ewes, which early clipping never fails to 

 produce. 



' In the management of wool, too much care 

 cannot be bestowed to exclude all impurities in 

 rolling it up, which ought to be done in as firm a 

 manner as possible, but without stretching the 

 fleece.' 



Mr Walter Buchanan has written directions to 

 the wool-growers of Australia respecting the 

 management of wool, many of which are of 

 general application : 



' In order to assimilate the Australian wool as 

 much as possible with the German, in preparing 

 it for market, the fleeces should not be broken, 



649 



