CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



but merely divested of the breech and stained 

 locks, and so assorted or arranged, that each 

 package may contain fleeces of the same character 

 as to colour, length of staple, fineness of hair, and 

 general quality. 



' If the washing has been performed at the same 

 time and place, and with an equal degree of care, 

 the colour of the wool is likely to be uniform, and 

 it will then only be necessary to attend to the 

 separation of the fleeces as to length, fineness, and 

 general quality ; but if a large grower has flocks 

 of different breeds, and fed on different soils, care 

 should be taken that the fleeces be separated, first 

 as to colour, and then again as to length of staple, 

 fineness, &c. 



' The fleeces being assorted, should be spread 

 one upon another, the neck of the second fleece 

 being laid upon the tail of the first, and so on 

 alternately, to the extent of eight or ten fleeces, 

 according to their size and weight. When so 

 spread, the two sides should be folded towards 

 the middle, then rolled together, beginning at 

 each end, and meeting in the centre, and the roll 

 or bundle so formed held together by a slight 

 packthread. The bagging should be of a close, 

 firm, and tough nature. The material hitherto 

 most generally used has been sail-canvas, which 

 very ill resists bad weather on a long voyage ; and 

 when received here, even in favourable condition, 

 is so dry and crisp, that it will tear like paper : 

 a thicker, twilled, more flexible, and tough material 

 would be preferable. The size and form of the 

 package may be in length about nine feet, and 

 width four feet, sewed up on the two long sides 

 and at one end, the other end being left open, and 

 the sheet so formed being suspended, with the 

 open end upwards, to receive the bundles, made 

 up as before directed, which are to be put in one 

 at a time, one of the flat sides of the roll or 

 bundle being put downwards, and so on in suc- 

 cession, being well trod down, until sufficiently 

 filled for the mouth to be closed. This is the 

 German mode of packing ; but it is doubtful 

 whether smaller packages, of the dimensions that 

 have been hitherto sent from the two colonies, 

 may not be more convenient for so long a voyage. 

 The operation of screwing should be discontinued 

 where it has been practised, as the screw-pressure, 

 and remaining compressed during the voyage, 

 occasion the wool to be caked and matted together 

 in a manner that is highly prejudicial to its 

 appearance on arrival. The practice also of 

 winding up each fleece separately, and twisting a 

 portion into a band, is productive, in a minor 

 degree, of the same prejudicial effect ; and it is to 

 avoid this that the making German bundles of 

 eight or ten fleeces is suggested.' 



Smearing Dipping. 



Smearing is a process of anointing the skins of 

 sheep with certain ingredients, principally for the 

 purpose of rendering the animal less liable to 

 injury from winter cold the unguent being a 

 slight counter-irritant and of destroying the ver- 

 min which lodge among the roots of the wool. 

 Smearing with a mixture of tar and butter was 

 general in Scotland in former times. The propor- 

 tions varied in different districts ; but in general 

 six pounds of. butter and a gallon of tar were 

 deemed sufficient for twenty sheep. The time for 

 laying on this salve was in the end of October 



650 



and beginning of November, before the rams are 

 admitted to the ewes, which, in the mountain 

 farms of Scotland, is in general about the 22d of 

 November. The smearing with butter and tar 

 has very much declined of late years, and other 

 salves have been substituted, as well as baths in 

 which the sheep are 'dipped.' However, many 

 flock-masters now maintain that the only real use 

 of salves and baths is to destroy the vermin 

 adhering to the body of the sheep, and that the 

 growth of wool can only be increased by better 

 feeding. Still the comparative merits of 'dipping' 

 and ' salving ' are yet a question among farmers. 



DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



The sheep in a state of domestication is subject 

 to a great variety of diseases, but the most for- 

 midable, and by far the most destructive, is 



The Rot. 



It is unfortunate that in the early stages of rot 

 the disease gives no external intimation of having 

 commenced its destined fatal career ; for it is 

 generally at the beginning of diseases that human 

 skill is most efficacious in arresting their progress. 

 Sheep in the early stages of the rot, however, 

 instead of shewing symptoms of disease and decay, 

 acquire a great tendency to fatten, which has been 

 turned to advantage by Mr Bakewell and others. 

 But after the disease has undermined the general 

 health, the animal becomes listless, and unwilling 

 to move, leaves its companions, and sinks rapidly 

 in flesh ; its eye becomes sunk, dull, and glassy ; 

 the wool comes easily from the skin ; the breath 

 becomes fetid ; the bowels variable, at one time 

 loose, with a black purging, and at another costive ; 

 the skin becomes yellow, and sometimes spotted 

 with black ; emaciation now becomes more rapid ; 

 general fever is induced, and death ensues. There 

 are various methods by which practical men 

 endeavour to ascertain the incipient symptoms of 

 the disease, but the two following are the most 

 general : 



The first is, by handling the sheep on the small 

 of the back, and if the flesh feel firm and solid, the 

 animal is judged sound ; but if the flesh feel flabby 

 and soft, and give a crackling sound when rubbed 

 against the ribs, the animal is unsound. The other 

 method is by examining the small veins at the 

 corners of the eyes, and if they are filled with 

 yellow serum instead^ of blood, the animal is 

 pronounced unsound ; but the greatest practical 

 tact and talent will not always insure success in 

 discovering the early stages of this insidious 

 disease. 



Appearances on Dissection. The whole cellular 

 tissue is filled with a yellow serous fluid ; the 

 muscles are pale, and appear as having been 

 macerated, being soft and flabby ; the kidneys 

 are infiltrated, pale, and flaccid; the mesenteric 

 glands distended with a yellow serous fluid ; the 

 lungs filled with tubercles ; the heart enlarged and 

 softened ; the peritoneum thickened ; the bowels 

 are often distended with water, and sometimes 

 grown together. But the liver is the primary seat 

 of the disease ; its whole structure is in different 

 states of disease ; one part is scirrhous and in- 

 durated, and another soft and ulcerated ; and the 

 biliary ducts are filled with flukes. This appears 

 to be the origin of the disease which has involved 



