150 SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



SHEARING. 



Towards the end of May shearing will commence. Some 

 time ago I witnessed an interesting display of shearing with 

 the Wolseley machine shears. Having heard of the favour 

 with which this instrument is being received in Australia 

 and New Zealand, I took the opportunity of a public exhibi- 

 tion of this method to become acquainted with the procedure. 

 The process was most successful and rapid, and may be 

 described in few words. The power used was a i|-h.p. ver- 

 tical steam engine, from which a belt actuated the shears. 

 The power was conveyed through a flexible tube, similar in 

 principle to what is used by dentists for cutting into decayed 

 teeth. Some of us have experienced the operation of tooth- 

 stopping when the swiftly revolving file or rotating cutter is 

 applied by a skilful dentist. Similarly, the shearer holds in 

 his right hand a machine which resembles in its structure 

 both a horse-clipping machine and the knife and guards of 

 a reaping machine. It is a compact, workmanlike-k>oking 

 instrument, and when actuated by the power the knife os- 

 cillates between the guards with immense velocity. The 

 sheep is held and handled as in ordinary shearing, and seems 

 to yield itself with passive indifference to the mechanical 

 novelty. The head, cheeks and throat are freed from loose 

 wool, and the fleece around the ears is removed. The breast 

 and belly wool is then opened out, and in a few broad cuts 

 the fleece begins to peel off rapidly under the hands of the 

 shearer. The work is superior to that usually done by hand, 

 and much more rapid, as a good operator turns off a sheep 

 every seven to eight minutes. The wool is more cleanly 

 sheared off, and there are no ridges left of longer wool. The 

 danger of cutting the skin seems also to be slight, and in the 

 specimens which I saw 7 shorn there was not a scratch or cut 

 to be seen. The cost of the implement, with its tubing, 

 bracket, and pulley for attachment to the power, is 10, and 

 a man is sent out with each instrument to instruct beginners 



