Ch. XXXIX.] ON SHEEP SHEARING. 471 



are formed for manuring the land at a proper season; but it deprives 

 the soil of the supposed advantages of the teathe, and occasions the 

 expense of mixing the compost and spreading it upon the ground. 



The cote, combines all the advantages and disadvantages of these 

 several modes, with the addition of shelter; but it occasions the cost of 

 erecting sheds, and if constantly used, causes the sheep to become un- 

 healthfully tender. 



THE SHEARING 



of sheep usually takes place, if the weather be fine, in the early part of 

 June ; but although sometimes deferred under the idea of rendering the 

 fleece heavier, yet the earlier the operation is jjerformed the better, as the 

 growth of the wool will then prevent the attacks of the flies, which at a more 

 advanced season, particularly in inclosed and woody countries, are often very 

 destructive. It is also advisable, if the sheep are to be slaughtered during 

 the summer ; for, if the fleece be not removed, the heat thus imparted to the 

 body gives the flesh a rancid taste, and it does not recover its usual flavour 

 in less than three weeks or a month after the wool is taken off"*. The 

 period, however, must depend upon the season, the progress of which should 

 be watched, and, so soon as the young wool has sufficiently raised the old 

 fleece from the skin, it should be clipped. 



In former days the lambs were also in most cases shorn about the same 

 time, or a little after, and this, except when they fall very late in the spring, 

 is almost universally the practice all over the continent ; for although the 

 value of the wool is trifling, yet its clipping is supposed to improve the 

 growth and strengthen its staple, as well as to render the coat less liable 

 to open and part along the line of the neck and back of the animal during 

 the succeeding heavy and driving rains of winter f. In this country, 

 however, it has been lately thought better to let the fleece remain undipped 

 until the following year, for the hogget loool is then found to be of much 

 superior quality than if the fleece had been previously cut. The lambs are 

 therefore very generally left untouched until the following season. 



Previous to shearing, the sheep are washed, in order to disencumber 

 the fleece of any coarse dirt which it may have contracted. In some liill 

 farms, indeed, this is omitted ; and on others, having very large flocks, the 

 sheep are merely forced to swim three or four times across some neighbour- 

 in cr stream. The most usual practice, however, is to form pens, or artificial 

 pools, railed round' with one rail only in the height of the water, so that 

 the sheep may be thrust under, when wanted, with a "poy" — which is a 

 long pole with a projection of about six inches on each side of the bottom, 

 to enable a man either to pull the sheep to him, or to push them from him. 



These wash-dikes are generally made in small rivulets of two or three 

 feet in depth, pointing against the current, so that the foul water may keep 

 draining from the sheep ; or, by causing a dam to be placed across in a 

 convenient place, with a flood-gate in the middle, by which the water can 

 be ponded up for the occasion, and let off at pleasure : on the one side a 

 pen is formed for the washing, and on the other a path is hurdled in for the 

 sheep to ascend when the process is over. Though sometimes made by in- 

 dividuals for their private use, they are in most cases formed by persons who 

 let them out and charge a trifling sum per score, according to the breed, for 

 washino-. Perhaps that described in the Rutlandshire Report as having 



"-•' Sussex Report, note, p. 353. 

 f Vancouver's Hampshire, p. 366. 



