THE GENESEE FARMER. 



143 



may always rely upon this fact— the more a sheep 



feels at ease, the more readily it will lie quiet to 



be clipped. Supporting its head with his left hand 



the clipoer first removes the wool from behind the 



head, then around the entire back of the neck to 



the shoulder top. He then slips its head and neck a 



under his left arm g, and thus having his left hand 



at liberty, he keeps the skin tight with it, while he 



clips the wool with the right 



from where the clipping in 



the first position, fig. 1, was 



left off to the back bone, all 



the way down the near side. 



In fig. 2 the Ueece appears to 



be removed about half way 



down the carcass; the left 



hand b lying fiat, keeping the 



skin tight; while the right 



hand e holds the shears at the 



right part, and in the proper 



position. The clipper thus 



proceeds to the thigh and the 



rump and the tail d. which he 



entirely bares at this time. 



and an irksome one for the maD, who has to bow 

 much down to clip the lower part of the animal. 

 In the second stage, fig. 2, the man still remains on 

 his feet, and the sheep upon its rump, while he se- 

 cures its head between his legs, in order to tighten 

 the skin of the near' side, which is bent outward 

 by his knees. The skin is certainly tightened, but 

 at the expense of the personal ease of the animal ; 



Clearing the sheet of the 

 loose parts of the tieece, the 

 clipper, holding by the head, 

 lays over the sheep on its 

 clipped or near side, while 

 still continuing on his knees; 

 and he then rests his right 

 knee, fig, 3, over its neck on 

 the ground, and his right foot 

 b on its toes, the ankle keep- 

 ing the sheep's head down to 

 the ground. This is the third 

 position in clipping. The 

 wool having been bared to 

 the shoulder in the second po- 

 sition, the clipper has now 



nothing to do but to commence where it was then 

 left off, and to clear the fleece from the far side 

 from the back bone, where it was left off in fig. 2, 

 in the second position, toward the belly, where the 

 clipping was left off in the first position, fig. 1 — the 

 left hand e being still at liberty to keep the skin 

 tight, while the right hand /'uses the shears across 

 the whole side of the tail. The fleece g is now 

 quite freed from the sheep. In assisting the sheep 

 to rise, care should be taken that its feet are free 

 from entanglement with the fleece, otherwise, in 

 its eagerness to escape from the unusual treatment 

 it has just received, it will tear the fleece to pieces* 

 On comparing the attitudes of the clipper and of 

 the sheep, in the different stages of clipping just 

 described, with those of a mode very common in 

 the country, it is necessary to look again at the 

 first stage of the process, fig. 1. the common prac- 

 tice of conducting which is to place the sheep up- 

 right on its tail, and the clipper to stand on his 

 feet, supporting its back against his legs — which js 

 both an insecure and painful position for the sheep, 



♦The artist has erroneously represented the sheep lying on its 

 far side, and the clipping to proceed from the belly to the back- 

 bone, which is the proper posture. for the second T'osition, as also 

 the keeping of the sheep's head down with the left leg a, where- 

 as the sheep should have lain upon its near side, the wool been 

 shorn from the back boue to the belly, and the head kept down 

 with the right leg, as described above. 



(FIG. 3.) — THE THIRD AND LAST STAGE OP CLIPPING A SHEEP. 



for the hand can tighten the skin as well, as shown 

 in all the figures, at b and e; whilst the bowing 

 down so low, and as long, until he clips the entire 

 side, can not fail to pain the back of the clipper. 

 The third position is nearly the same in both pluns, 

 with the difference in the common one, which 

 keeps the left leg bent, resting on its foot — a much 

 more irksome position than kueeiing on both 

 knees. 



Skimmed Milk Cheese. — A skillful dairymaid 

 can make very fair cheese from skimmed milk. 

 But extra care and time are required. The cheese 

 must be set very cool, or it will be sour and un- 

 palatable — 



"Too big to swallow, and toi hard to bite." 



It was an article of this kind which elicited a 

 rather jfithy criticism from a half-witted fellow 



who got his living by running errands about Dun- 

 blane, in Scotland. On one occasion he was sent 

 to a farm-house where the " creaming-dish " was 

 very rigorously used, and on being set down to a 

 repast composed of bread, butter and cheese, he 

 was observed to spread the butter pretty thickly 

 over slices of cheese, muttering all the while, quite 

 loud enough to be heard by the bystanders, "Deil 

 be in their fingers tliat ever pah-ted ye. M 



