SHEAEING. 171 



shearer should be to clip off the wool evenly and smoothly, 

 without breaking the fleece and without cutting the wool 

 twice in two, or cutting the skin. It is difficult to avoid the 

 last, occasionally, on the corrugated surfaces of the Merino : 

 but repeated and severe cuts should always procure the 

 shearer's dismissal. Especial pains are to be taken in this 

 particular about the udders of ewes. There is perhaps less 

 danger if these are large and in sight. In the case of a 

 young Merino ewe having no lamb, and whose udder is small 

 and mostly covered with wool, I have repeatedly seen a teat 

 clipped off thus, rendering it forever after incapable of allow- 

 ing the passage of .milk, unless re-opened by the artificial process 

 already described at page 157. The shearer who holds his 

 sheep in the easiest manner for itself, who keeps it confined 

 for the least period in one and especially an uncomfortable 

 position, and who makes use of the least violence in case it 

 attempts to escape, accomplishes more work, performs it 

 better, and incurs far less labor and fatigue. 



Wool should be cut off reasonably close, but not close 

 enough to have the skin show naked and red so as to 

 expose it to sun-burn, or to have the sheep suffer severely 

 from a moderate degree of cold. The English shepherds 

 have a system of shearing their large sheep in uniform ridges 

 or flutings, running in a particular way, which has a very 

 pleasing appearance. I see no objections to it ; and every- 

 thing which tends to raise any process toward the dignity of 

 art, and increase the esprit du corps of any class of laborers, 

 is beneficial both to themselves and their employers. 



Fair ordinary shearers will shear about twenty -five 

 common Merinos in a day, and active ones from five to ten 

 more. The highly corrugated sheep which are now becoming 

 fashionable among a class, demand far more time. The 

 comparatively open-fleeces, and smooth, round carcasses of the 

 English breeds, admit of considerably more rapid shearing. 



While sheep are being sheared, the catcher should always 

 be at hand with shovel and broom to remove dung, pick up 

 scattered locks, and keep the floor perfectly clean. When a 

 sheep is sheared, he should catch another for the shearer and 

 set it on a new place on the floor, before taking up the fleece 

 of its predecessor. This done, he should bring the preceding 

 fleece together as it lies with its inner side up, and then, 

 pressing it between his hands and arms, lift it up, carry it to 

 the folding table and turn it over as he lays it down. He 



