1335.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



467 



tween them, they swim through the deep part, 

 and walk out at the other mouth, where there is 

 a clean pen, or a very clean, dry pasture, or rick- 

 yard, to receive them for a few days, until they 

 are thoroughly dry, and fit for the shearers: the 

 lambs being first separated from the other sheep, 

 and confined in distinct pens. A lew planks will 

 form a bridge to the tubs, and there should be a 

 pen at the first mouth of the water, where the 

 sheep may be soaking a few minutes before being 

 driven to the washers. 



Where, however, much dirt has fastened itself 

 at the points of the wool, the "Farming Society 

 of Ireland" think it might be wise to have a large 

 tub of water at about blood heat, in which to place 

 the sheep, till all the. wool shall be well washed 

 and sofrened, and that it should be river-washed 

 directly after. This process, the society observe, 

 would not be troublesome as might be supposed; 

 for the heat of the animal will keep nearly a suf- 

 ficient warmth in the water, which will at all 

 events be produced by occasionally putting in a 

 few pails full of hot water. And it is a fact wor- 

 thy of remark, that the greater the number washed, 

 the better will the water cleanse. On this sub- 

 ject, Mr. Bakewell also says, "It would be desi- 

 rable that the Spanish and mixed breeds of sheep 

 were also washed in this way, because it is not 

 possible to cleanse the fleece by the usual prac- 

 tice of immersion in a river, without keeping the 

 animal a long time in the water, and thereby en- 

 dangering its health. Indeed I do not. think the 

 Spanish fleeces can be cleansed by the usual mode 

 of washing, on account of the closeness of the 

 pile. Were the Spanish sheep in this country 

 washed before shearing as clean as the English, 

 the value of their wool would be better ascertain- 

 ed by the wool-buyer, and a more general com- 

 petition of purchasers wou'd always insure a fair 

 price for the article. 



"The extra labor required to wash sheep in tubs 

 with warm water and lie, or soda, would I appre- 

 hend, be amply repaid, were the water of the 

 first and second washings carried out and applied 

 as a manure. The quantity of rich animal soap 

 it would contain must make it one of the most 

 fertilizing applications which could possibly be 

 used. The greased wool would require a greater 

 quantity of soda to cleanse it than that of the 

 Spanish or mixed breeds, where no ointment had 

 been applied. I annex Baron Schultz's account, 

 of the Svveedish manner of washing sheep: I 

 think some improvements upon it will suggest 

 themselves to the intelligent wool-grower. 



"Before the shearing, the wool is almost uni- 

 versally washed upon the sheep. Some persons 

 wash the sheep in the open sea, or in running wa- 

 ter, but this is never so clean as when the sheep 

 are first washed in a large, tub, with one part clear 

 lie. two parts lukewarm water, with a small quan- 

 tity of urine; and then in another tub, with less 

 lie in the water; after which the sheep are wash- 

 ed, laying them always on their back, with their 

 heads up, in a tub with clean water; and lastly, 

 there is poured out on the sheep, standing on the 

 ground, a sufficient quantity of water, which is as 

 much as possible squeezed out of the wool. The 

 sheep are afterwards driven into an unpastured ad- 

 joining meadow, and remain there (to prevent 

 their soiling themselves in the sheep-house) a day 

 and night, not only till they be dry, which in good 



dry weather happens within the third day, but also, 

 if bad weather does not threaten, some days longer. 

 Some persons wash their sheep twice, which I 

 also once tried, but the wool becomes rougher in 

 consequence of it, and in fact of a grayer appear- 

 ance. The great quantity of grease which the 

 finest Spanish wool contains at the first washing, 

 mixes with the lie-water, and makes it quite soft 

 and soapy; but this grease is wanting in the se- 

 cond washing, so that the water is not in the least 

 softened. If the first washing be well performed, 

 the wool is by that means several per cent, clean- 

 er than the foreign wool that is imported, which 

 has not been washed after the shearing.'"* 



In Silesia, the latitude of which corresponds 

 with that of many of our finest grazing districts, 

 the method usually practised simply consists in 

 making the sheep cross a running stream, after 

 obliging them to plunge into the water from a 

 pretty high bridge. 



The method chiefly pursued in Saxony, con- 

 sis 1 *?, first, in making the sheep cross a brook or 

 river; on the second day, in the morning, they are 

 again made to pass through the water, in which 

 they are dipped, in order that the fleece may be 

 uniformly penetrated; after which they are stroked, 

 or pressed down with the hand, beginning at the 

 head, and thence proceeding to the extremities of 

 their bodies. They are also led once in the after- 

 noon, across the stream; the fleeces are then al- 

 lowed two days to become dry, and on the third 

 day they are shorn. A shearer dispatches twen- 

 ty-five sheep in one day. When an animal is 

 wounded, the part is anointed with its excrements, 

 or with a mixture of linseed oil and resin. The 

 shearing ceases about three o'clock in the after- 

 noon, that the sheep may have time to feed in the 

 meadows, whither they are gently driven after 

 they have undergone the operation. After the 

 shearing, some graziers Ibid their sheep for two or 

 three weeks, sending them proper rations of 

 lood.f 



In Spain, the sheep are shorn in large buildings 

 constructed for that purpose, and the operation is 

 conducted by persons who are not themselves pro- 

 prietors of flocks, but who make this branch of* 

 the management their peculiar business. The 

 fleece is then assorted into the different qualities, 

 and carefully washed in warm water; but. not 

 more than is merely necessary to cleanse it from 

 impurity, as loo much washing is supposed to 

 render the wool brittle. The fleece, is thus cut 

 and stapled at the same time; and it has been as- 

 serted that 800,000 sheep have been shorn in 

 the season at one of these esquileus, at Ortigosa, 

 in Segovia. J 



In washing sheep, the use of water containing 

 chalk should be avoided; for this substance de- 

 composes the yolk of the wool, which is an ani- 

 mal soap, the natural defence of the fleece; and 

 wool, often washed in calcareous water, becomes 

 rough and more brittle. The yolk is most useful 

 to the sheep in cold and wet seasons by the re- 



* Bakewell on wool, p. 72. 



f See M. Lasteyrie's very valuable "Histoire de 

 l'lntroduction des Moutons a Laine fine d'Espagne 

 dans les divers Etats de l'Europe, et au Cap de Bonne 

 Esperance." 8tc.8vo. 1802. 



| Bourijoinsc: Tableau de l'Espagne Moderne, Vol. 

 I. Ch. III. 



