330 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



If the wool is left ridgy and uneven, it betrays that want of workmanship, 

 which is so distasteful to every good farmer * Great care should be taken 

 not to cut the wool twice in two, as inexperienced shearers are apt to do. 

 It is a great damage to the wool. It is done by cutting too far Irom the 

 point of the shears, and suffering the points to get too elevated. Every 

 time the shears are pushed forward, the wool before cut off" by the points, 

 say a quarter or three-eighths of an inch from the hide, is again severed. 

 To keep the fleece entire, so important to its good appearance when done 

 up, (and therefore to its salableness,) it is very essential that the sheep be 

 held easily ybr itself, so that it will not struggle violently. To hold it still 

 by main strength, no man can do, and shear it well. The posture of the 

 shearer should be such that the sheep is actually confined to its position, 

 so that it is unable to start up suddenly and tear its fleece, but it should 

 not be confined there by severe pressure or force, or it will be constantly 

 kicking and struggling. Heavy-handed, careless men, therefore, always 

 complain of getting the most troublesome sheep. The neck, for example, 

 may be confined to the floor by placing it between the toe and knee of the 

 leg on which the shearer kneels, but the lazy or brutal shearer who lets 

 his leg rest directly on the neck, sooji provokes that struggle which the 

 animal is obliged to make to free itself from severe pain, and even perhaps 

 to draw its breath ! 



Good shearers will shear, on the average, twenty-five Merinos per day, 

 and a new beginner should not attempt to exceed from one-third to one- 

 half that number. It is the last process in the world which should be hur- 

 ried, as the shearer will soon leave more than enough wool on his sheep to 

 pay for his day's wages. 



It has been mentioned that but enough sheep should be yarded at once 

 for half a day's shearing. The reason for this is that they shear much 

 more easily, and there is less liability of cutting the skin, when they are 

 distended with food, than when their bellies become flabby and collapsed 

 for the want of it. This precaution, however, is often necessarily omitted 

 in showery weather. It is very convenient to have the outside pen whicli 

 communicates with the "bay," covered. On my farm, it is one of the 

 regular sheep-houses. If it is showery over night, or showers come up on 

 the day of sliearing, a couple of hundred sheep may be run in and kept 

 dry. And they can be let out to feed occasionally during the day on 

 short grass. If let out in long wet grass, their bellies will become wetted. 

 Wool oiiglit not to be sheared, and must not be done up, with any water 

 in it. 



Shearing Lambs, and Shearing Sheep Semi-Annually. — Shearing 

 lambs is, in my judgment, every way an abominable and unprofitable prac- 

 tice — in this climate, at least. The lamb will give you the same wool at a 

 year old, and you strip it of its natural protection from cold when it is 

 young and tender, for the paltry gain of the interest on a pound or a pound 

 and a half of wool for six months — not more than two or three cents — and 

 this all covered by the expense of shearing. 



I am aware that it is customary, in many parts of the South, to shear 

 grown sheep twice a year; and there may be a reason for it where they 

 receive so little care that a portion are expected to disappear every half- 

 year, and the wool to be torn from the backs of the remainder by bushes, 

 thorns, &c., if left for a longer period. But when sheep are inclosed, and 



* I hnld that man is not half n fanner who has n(jt a dash of the assthetic mixed up with his utilitarianigmy 

 Profit should not often be sacrificed to appoarancep, hut where they are strictly compatible, he who disre- 

 gards the latter betrays a sordid and uncultivated mind. 

 (650) 



