190 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



the wool as deposited by the tyer, and one man tosses up fleeces to a sec- 

 ond, who catches them and passes them down to the man in the sack. A 

 light frame, to suspend the sack, and part way up it a standing-place for 

 the catcher, would be a convenient appendage to the establishment of a 

 wool-grower who does not store his wool in a wool-room. With a set of 

 stairs up to his midway standing-place, an active fellow would keep the 

 treader supplied, without any assistance. 



In the absence of any agreement, the price of wool, delivered at the 

 residence of the purchaser, does not include the cost of sacks and sacking. 

 It is customary, however, for growers of small parcels, and those who 

 keep no conveniences for sacking, to carry their wool tied up in sheets, 

 &c., and deliver it to the purchaser at the nearest village or other point, 

 where he has made arrangements for sacking. 



SELECTION. The necessity of annually weeding the flock, by excluding 

 all its members falling below a certain standard of quality, and what the 

 points are to which reference should be had in establishing that standard, 

 have already been sufficiently adverted to in discussing the principles of 

 breeding. The time of shearing is by far the most favorable one for the 

 flockmaster to make his selection. He should be present on the shearing- 

 floor, and inspect the fleece of every sheep as it is gradually taken off. If 

 there is a fault about it, he will then discover it better than at any other 

 time. A glance, too, reveals to him every fault of form, previously con- 

 cealed wholly or in part, by the wool, as soon as the newly shorn sheep 

 is permitted to stand on its feet. He takes down the number and age of 

 the sheep on his tablet, and if not sufficiently defective in form or quality 

 of fleece to call for its condemnation, in a pair of scales suspended near the 

 wool-tyer's table, he determines the weight of the fleece. If this, too, is 

 satisfactory, he marks " retained " opposite the sheep's number on his tab- 

 let. If more or less defective in any point, he weighs this against the 

 other points taking also into consideration the age of the sheep, its char- 

 acter as a breeder, its nui'sing properties, quietness of disposition, &c. 

 and then, in view of all these points, the question of retention or exclusion 

 is settled. A remarkably choice ewe is frequently kept until she dies of 

 old age. A poorish nurse or breeder would be excluded for the lightest 

 fault, and so on. I have been in the habit, for a number of years, of using 

 a book kept for this purpose, each page being ruled and headed thus : 



The figures in the first column signify No. 27 of the year 1842, and No. 

 30 of the year 1844. The letters in the succeeding columns stand for the 

 words " prime," " fair," " ordinary," and " bad " marking the gradations 

 of quality. The letters in the last column signify " retained," or " ex- 

 cluded." -Such a record will lead to far greater accuracy than by any 

 other method, and it is extremely valuable for purposes hereafter to bo 

 stated. 



If the sheep are not numbered, the flock-master should note each appear- 

 ance, as above directed, have the sheep held by the neck by an assistant, 

 or discharged by the shearer into a small pen at the door for that purpose, 

 until the fleece is weighed, and then if he decides to exclude it, he gives 

 it a small mark on the shoulder, consisting of Venetian Red and hog's lard, 

 (conveniently applied with a brush or cob.) 



