Treatment of Sheep, 13 



at all events be produced, by a few pails of hot water 

 put in occasionally — and it is worthy of remark, that 

 the greater the number washed, the better will the 

 water cleanse. 



" Something similar to this has been communicated 

 by an eminent authority in England, who states, that 

 if ten flocks be washed in a clay pit of stagnant water, 

 the last flock will come out with the cleanest wool. 



" Indeed, these facts seem to be strongly corro- 

 borated by the following circumstance, viz. That 

 clothiers who have a certain liquor in which they scour 

 their wool, merely add to the quantity to supply the 

 waste, but do not throw away the liquor itself for 

 years, considering that it is improved, for their pur- 

 pose, by repeated use. 



'^ 3d — With respect to shearing, — It is recommend- 

 ed, that previous to the sheep being handed over to 

 the shearer, a person should -clip oflF all coarse and 

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

 and put it in a bag or a basket apart. 



*' This is particularly necessary to be observed in 

 shearing of lambs; as 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 fabrick to which 

 the wool is applied — the kemps will not take any dye, 

 and whatever colour may have been intended, the ar- 

 ticle must be a mixture. Great care should be taken 

 in shearing, not to give the wool a second cut, which 

 wastes and injures the fleece materially. 



*' That lambs should be shorn is not now contro- 

 verted — if the weather be fine and warm they should 

 be shorn at the same time with the sheep, or soon 



