160 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL. 



points of the shears close down to the skin. This is known 

 as " cutting through ; " it takes place when the sheep is being 

 shorn on one side ; and, in shearing over the back, the points of 

 the shears cut nearly or quite through the fleece, from the inside 

 to ths out ; then, when the animal is being shorn on the other, or 

 " turning out " side, the shears are again pointed upwards, and the 

 cuts on the first and last side overlap each other, causing the fleece 

 to part in two halves all along the back. No good shearer makes 

 second cuts; the fact that wool has been left by the first cut 

 proves that the shears have not been held properly ; and the wool 

 removed by a second cut being perfectly useless, entails a severe 

 loss on the manufacturer, and greatly lowers the repute of the 

 brand in the markets. Cutting through, and a habit of continually 

 making second cuts, are the most objectionable characteristics of 

 the unskillful shearer. A sheep may be shorn so close as to satisfy 

 the most exacting employer, and yet it may be shorn very badly ; 

 and the only conclusive test of good shearing, or the reverse, is to 

 be found not on the outside of the animal, but on the inside of the 

 fleece. 



"When the sheep's skin has been unavoidably cut in shearing, 

 each cut should be smeared with tar, which will prevent flesh flies 

 from depositing their eggs in the wound, and probably avoid after 

 trouble. 



It is said to be a fact that newly shorn rams are incapable of 

 breeding until their fleeces have recovered considerable growth. 

 Some evidence in support of this assertion is given in a pamphlet 

 published in Australia, in which the author, Mr. J. B. Graham, the 

 superintendent of an extensive sheep "station" on the Murray 

 River, states that in a flock of 4,000 ewes and 100 rams newly 

 shorn, he had but 165 lambs, and on another occasion a flock of 

 100 ewes, which were drafted with 4 rams, newly shorn, produced 

 only 9 lambs. On another station when the ewes were coupled 

 with newly shorn rams, there were not 5 per cent of lambs. This, 

 if a fact, is more curious than important in this country, where, 

 except in California, sheep are not shorn near the breeding season. 

 If wool were not shorn, it would be shed annually, or its growth 

 would be rendered uneven, and its fiber weakened at the season 

 when the coat of an animal covered with hair is usually shed. A 

 fleece that is suffered to grow for two seasons, shows very dis- 

 tinctly the division between the growth of each year. This, how- 

 ever, occurs only in those countries where the winter and summer 

 climates differ considerably, and where the transition from one to 

 the other is sudden. Where the climate is nearly even throughout 



