GENERAL. 25 



taken to the pasture until the sun is well up and the frost 

 dispelled. 



The events of the sheep-farmer's year are those of 

 ' seiialando,' or the marking, the cutting of male lambs, 

 and the shearing. 



All the men and women of the district are put in re- 

 quisition for the shearing, for which they are paid per 100 

 head the usual price of 40;^, making, with the tying of the 

 fleeces, a cost of about 1$ or 2d. per sheep. 



All districts possess their musical geniuses, 'paisanos,' 

 or country folk, who ' strike the light guitar,' and sing 

 impromptu ditties. These gentlemen bring their guitars 

 to the shearing, and, the work of the day over, a fire is 

 lit in the open, the ' asado ' is put down to cook, and the 

 ' ting-ting ' commences ; laughing, chaffing, singing, and 

 dancing are the order of the night, until the fires go out, 

 and the parties stretch themselves out to sleep. 



In the majority of flocks, there is no separation of 

 young or old, and the rams run all the year round with 

 the flocks exposed to the same vicissitudes ; there are, in 

 consequence, lambs the progeny of under-aged half-grown 

 ewes, and aged and toothless ones ; and though the lambing 

 falls chiefly in the spring and autumn, there are more or 

 less lambs di'opped throughout the year : the rams, too, 

 are put into the flocks at, or left in them from, an early age. 

 These various practices are very great stumbhng-blocks to 

 the improvement of the sheep, prejudicing the weight of 

 fleece, the soundness of the wool development of the 

 animals ; a marked tendency — indeed a positive dege- 

 neracy — to delicacy, is the consequence, which a modi- 

 fication of system, practice, and the use of stronger and 

 healthier rams will alone correct. 



The true principles of breeding are little known, and 

 less practised. On many establishments of some preten- 



