SHEEP. 1027 



modate four men will cleanse five hundred sheep by four o'clock, 

 giving them time to drip sufficiently not to suffer during the 

 night. A rising barometer should be selected, with a fair pros- 

 pect of at least one sunny day succeeding the washing. As in 

 hay-making, it is best to enter on this work soon after a storm 

 rather than just before one. If the men are not all equally good 

 workmen, let the sheep be passed along the line, the best man 

 handling them last ; and let him stand up-stream, so that the 

 rinsing may be finished in clean water. Freshly washed sheep, 

 especially the open-fleeced English breeds, ought to be protected 

 from cold, drying winds as much as if they were shorn. 



If the water is cold and the yolk half thickened, tending 

 to waxy lumps, only a little, if any, will be removed. This is 

 washing only in name. Yolk will reform in the fleece as rapidly 

 on cool days as on warm ones, but it is not so apparent. The 

 farmer can let his flock run after washing as long as he chooses, 

 but if a long time is allowed to elapse say over two weeks- 

 certain fleeces will resume the strong sheepy odor and the abun- 

 dant yolk which they had before washing, and which will prob- 

 ably cause them to be "docked." 



The Art of Shearing can not be taught on paper. But 

 the master should insist on the shearers attending to certain 

 points. The fleece ought to be opened up the neck and not on 

 the shoulder, for both shoulders should be kept intact, as the 

 best wool comes from this quarter. The belly-piece ought also 

 to be left hanging wholly on one side or the other, not divided 

 down the middle. The fleece should never be cut twice, and it 

 is not worth while to go a second time over the surface tagged 

 early in the spring. 



When the fleece has been spread out on the table, outside 

 uppermost, and gathered into its natural position, backbone 

 straight, the first thing is to examine the breech and remove 

 the dung-balls. Now fold the breech over about six inches, 

 then the flank, then the neck, and last the belly-piece ; this 

 leaves the latter where it is convenient for the sorter to find 

 and detach it. The fleece now lies on the table nearly square. 

 The folder then lays his right arm across the middle, and by a 



