468 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 8 



sistance which its oily nature opposes to the rain; 

 while it nourishes the growth of the wool, and 

 also imparls to it a greater degree of softness and 

 elasticity. 



The dipping, or shearing of sheep, is perform- 

 ed in two ways, and eitiier a bum, or a small 

 shady paddock is usually chosen as the scene of 

 operation. The first and most ancient, or com- 

 mon way, is done longitudinally, from head to 

 tail; but this mode is attended with considerable 

 difficulty, and is seldom well executed. The se- 

 cond, and improved method, consists in cutting 

 circularly round the body of the animal, the beau- 

 ty of which is, in consequence of this, believed to 

 be increased, while the work is more uniformly 

 and closely executed. The shearer holds the ani- 

 mal under him, either with his knee, or left arm, 

 and clips the wool with a spring shears, which be- 

 ing without handles, he is enabled :o manage 

 with one hand, and thus performs the operation 

 without assistance, unless the sheep are unusually 

 strong and restive. The entire lleece is stripped 

 at once, and rolled up together and the different 

 qualities are afterwards sorted by the wool-stapler: 

 but, previously to the sheep being handed over to 

 the shearer, it is a good practice to clip oil' all 

 coarse and kempy wool from the hips, legs, pate, 

 and forehead, and keep it apart from the rest o] 

 the wool, in a bag or basket. This is parti 

 necessary to be observed in the shearing of iambs: 

 ibr in lambs' wool, if the coarse part and kemps 

 be suffered to mix with the fine, they never can 

 be sorted out, and must spoil any liibric to which 

 the wool may subsequently be applied, as the 

 kemps will not take any die; and whatever color 

 may have been intended, the article must be a 

 mixture. Further, great care should be taken, in 

 shearing, not to give the wool a second cut, as it 

 materially injures and wastes the deece. 



During the whole process of shearing, the 

 greatest care should be taken not to wound or 

 prick the animal with the edge or point of the 

 shears; otherwise the flies, abounding in the sultry 

 heats of midsummer, will instantly attack the 

 sheep, and sting them to very madness. 



When shorn, the fleece should be carefully 

 folded and rolled, beginning at the hinder part, 

 and folding in the sides, or belly wool, as the rol- 

 ling proceeds. When arrived at the shoulders,! 

 the wool of the fore part should be rolled back to j 

 meet the other, instead of having the binder 

 twisted from thence in the usual manner, and 

 the whole secured by a pack-cord in the common 

 way in which parcels are tied up. Thus the 

 fleece is kept much tighter together, and unfolds 

 itself with more regularity under the hand of the 

 sorter, who is otherwise much inconvenienced by 

 the confusion or breaking of those parts of the 

 fleece which, in the common method, are twisted 

 together for the band. 



In the. preceding details, we have spoken of one 

 annual shearing; but experiments have been 

 made by some enterprising breeders, tending to 

 show that, in certain cases, long-woolled sheep 

 may be shorn twice in the year. The trial, how- 

 ever, has not been attended with any advantage; 

 for although a trifling additional quantity of wool 

 might, be thus obtained, it would not be sufficient 

 to pay for the additional trouble and expense: the 

 quality, also, would be inferior in length of staple; 

 and late shearing exposes the sheep to injur} 



from cold. To meet this latter objection it has, 

 indeed, been proposed to clothe them in flannel 

 jackets, as practised by the breeders of the new 

 .Leicester rams; but although that may answer the 

 purpose of Tup-masters who find their interest in 

 supporting a peculiar breed of delicate sheep, it 

 cannot be adopted generally, even if it were ad- 

 vantageous to the animal, of which many strong 

 doub;s are entertained. The external air and sun 

 are necessary to the health of the sheep, which 

 seems intended by nature, more than any other 

 domesticated animal, for exposure to the weather. 

 It is also probable that, the system of clothing 

 sheep is prejudicial to the growth of the wool 

 both in strength and staple. 



Mr. Ellman, of' Glynde, clips off the coarsest 

 wool on the thighs and docks of his South-down 

 ilock, (the, first of that breed in this island,) about 

 lour weeks before the usual time of washing and 

 .shearing. The wool, thus severed, he sells as 

 locks: each sheep yielding, upon an average, four 

 ounces, lie is said to find this method very ben- 

 eficial, as the animals are kept clean and cool du- 

 ring hot weather; and from the success with 

 which it was practised, it has been adopted in 

 other counties with different breeds of sheep. 



A more singular mode has for some years been 

 tried at the French national farm, atRambouiJJef, 

 the result oi' which is staled to be, that the fleece 

 of sheep improves greatly by being suflered to 

 grow for several years; and that the fleeces of 

 some sheep, widen were shorn in 1804, lor the 

 first time ibr three years, and in 1814, for the first 

 tune lor five years, were superior, in point of sta- 

 ple, to those \v hich were annually shorn, and pro- 

 duced a larger sum. We state these facts for the 

 consideration of the philosophic breeder; though 

 we conless ourselves at a loss to reconcile them 

 either with the generally received theory of the 

 growth of the rieece, or with the eilect of the 

 very great degree of heat which the French 

 sheep must have felt with such a weight of wool; 

 especially, as it is the opinion of all well informed 

 breeders, that excessive heat is equally hurtful to 

 sheep as extreme cold. 



Lambs have been usually clipped a short time 

 after the rest of the flock; but, in this country, a 

 custom has been lately introduced, of not, as for- 

 merly, shearing the lambs. The wool of the 

 Hoggets thus acquires a great length of staple, or, 

 as it is sometimes termed, a longer nip; it is chief- 

 ly used in the manufacture of shawls, and as it 

 now commands a higher price than the other 

 qualities, this is of the utmost importance to the 

 proprietors of short woolled flocks: it is, indeed, 

 the only kind of short British wool that has been, 

 tor some time past, saleable, except at prices that 

 are ruinous to the grower. 



After sheep have been clipped, it is usual ta 

 mark them with ochre, ruddle, or other coloring 

 matter; but, as it sometimes becomes difficult to 

 wash the stains of these substances out of the 

 wool, a composition of finely pulverized charcoal, 

 or lamp-black, (which is better, where it can be 

 procured,) and tallow, mixed together over a mo- 

 derate fire, with a small portion of tar to give it a 

 proper consistence, will answer the purpose; and 

 wool, which has been marked with such mixture, 

 may easily be cleansed therefrom, by washing in 

 strong soapsuds. 



It is essential that a distinctive mark be given to 



