4 NEW_ FNft L A ND F A RMEH. 



UlGliNAL PAPERS. 



i'ublisliiul by Jtiaa rf. Kcssel,4. at iSo. . 



OL. V 



I'vi-T tiie Agric uHurai VVareliouse.j — TjloHAS ti7i-'KssENi)KN, Editor. 



BOSTOrV, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1827. 



No. 4.5. 



■uul consCi]iiciit growth of the wool. Besides, 

 ■y saj', in early shearing-, (he wool lias not the 

 luiitiiMi which it afterwards acquires. IJiitthcii 

 i . late slicaring, the fleece will have tho less time 

 to grow so as to protect the animal an-ainst the 

 lioours of the succeeding winter; and if a year's 

 ii.tcrva] 13 allowed between each clipping tinio, 

 after your routine is established, the wool will 

 d the same period for its growth, whether 

 Sheep with fine fleeces. 



[by the editor.] 



SHEARING SHEEP, Sic. 

 line's New Kiigland Farmer states tliat "\vc 

 our sheep in peneral too early in this couD- 

 In England, where the spring is more for- 

 than in this country, the approved time of 

 ing is from the nii(l<lle to the latter end of i >'<"' shear early or late 



They should be w shed in a warm time which are shorn without being washed on the 



■ this they should run three or four days in u '"""^^ of the animal, may he clipped tarlier in the 

 pasture before tlicy are shorne. It is good ;''''ason than those which are exposed to suffer for 

 hem to have time to sweat a little in their; ''^l' "i ''"'"■ or more by soaking in cold water. 

 after washing. Lemuel W. Briggs, Esq. of Bristol, R. I. in ar- 



Lawrence, an English writer of note, says, '''=^es published N. E. Farmer, vol. iii. pages 27.3, 

 e seems to be the penfral shearing month, ["'S' stated certai.i facts wiiich would seem favor- 

 s country, and wlicro no e.xtraordinary pre | ^bie to early shearing : • iid in certain circum- 

 ons are taken, the business had better be de- ^tmces, and particularly viith sheep which are 

 until towards mid-summer, more especially | ""^t ^^'^shed there can be no doubt tliat the prac- 

 Id backward springs, because in such seasons ' ''*<^ ^^^y ^^ beneficial. Mr Briggs stated in sub- 

 eldom, until that period, have any settled ' ^'^i"''^' 'hat Mr Rouse Potter, of Prudence Island, 

 weather ; besides a more perfect fleece is i^arragansot Bay. Rhode Island, who kept 050 



ned, and fuller of yiJk trom the perspiration 

 animal. 



ashing pr-vious to clipping the sheep is 

 eneral custo.Ti, with few exceptions, in this 

 y ; indeed it is proper with all long-woolled 

 , but not so easily practicable with the miit- 

 reasy and impenetrable fleeces of the Span- 

 si ad carding wool breed, whence in Spain tliey 

 iably ^hear dry, as has been tho practice in 

 [j| nshire, with the short woolled sheep for cer ! 

 Mascal says, •' in Devonshire they never 

 their Sheep, when they clip. Afterviards 

 wash their wool before they spin it, in warm 

 ind dry it on hurdles." [sticks woven togeth- 

 As to the time of shearing, he says—" The 

 s, to consider when Ihe sheep canncl endure 

 'f thou shenr him, nor heat if thou shear him 



udon says " The proper time for clipping or 

 -ing sheep must be directed by the state of 

 .•eather and the climate in the particular dis 



heep, and lost but two the preceding winter, be 

 g:ns to shear them by tho first of May, if the 

 weather is favorable ; and continues daily until he 

 completes his shearing. Fur tlie first week he 

 P'lts tliose sheared under cover, or in close yards 

 every night. By that time tho wool will grow so 

 as to give them a suflicient covering. By this 

 practice of early shearing he gains much wopl, 

 ivhich formerly when he put off" shearing till the 

 n/fldle' of June, the sheep would shed ; and fur- 

 tiier, when thus ea"rly sheared, the wool immedi- 

 atejj aflorwards begins to start and grow much 

 quicker than when shearing is. deferred to the 

 usual time. He says that formerly being exposed 

 immediately after shearing to the rays of the sun, 

 their bare backs vvould frequently become sore 

 and scabby, when no wool will grow till healed, 

 and then what docs grow from these scars is thin- 

 ner and coarser tlian the rest. 



" Mr Potter states that he has found from actual 

 experiment, that he not only gels more wool 



offcctuiil with respect to their health. Such as 

 were aficcted with foulness or eruption of the 

 skin might bo washed and scrubbed in a ley of 

 water and wood ashes, in a large tub, which would 

 contain three. It would both conduce to tlic 

 health of the sheep, and promote the regular 

 growth of tho wool. Wool would probably Iceep 

 best in the grease.and dust might be shaken from it. 

 Any difliciiUy in /espect to fixing the price of 

 wool in an unwashed state would vanish in a 

 season or two. 



" Clipping off the coarse soiled wool about the 

 thighs and docks" (says Loudon) " some weeks 

 before the usual time of washing and clipping the 

 sheep is an excellent practice; as by this means 

 the sheep are kept clean and cool when the seas 

 on IS hot, i^nd with ewes the udders are prevent- 

 ed from becoming sore. 



" In separating for the purpose of washing, tho 

 flock is brought to the side of the washing pool, 

 and there Janibg and sheep of difl^erent kinds, fit 

 to be waslied, are put into separate fields ; and 

 such lambs) as are too young to be clipped are not 

 washed, but ';onfined in a fold or inclosure of any 

 kind, at stjch a distance from the washing place 

 that they ijiay not disturb their mothers by bleat- 



as by this means the danger of injury by | which would otherwise be lost, but the succeedin 



from depriving the sheep of their coats at 

 arly a season, and from heat, by permitting 

 to continue on them too long, may be avoid- 

 the best manner. It has been stated, that 



tvool will be from J inch to I inch longer if shear- 

 ed early, than it will be if delayed to the usual 

 time of shearing. And further there is not the 

 same necessity for washing the sheep as the wool 



he more warm sheltered situations in the i '^ much cleaner, more free from sand and dirt, 



ern parts of the kingdom, the beginning rr 

 Ic of June, when the weather is fine, may be 

 neral the most proper ; but in the more ox- 

 districts ill the northern parts of the island, 

 nicldle or Uuter end of the same month mnv 

 ore suitable, provided the season is favorable, 

 with the fattening sheep in the i-^closurey, it 

 mostly be necessary to perform the work at 

 arlier period in every situation, as the gre.it 

 e of heat from the setting in of the sum- 

 weather, added to the warmth of the fleece, 

 mo.'i very opnressive and injurious to tho'-.i in 

 feci ing." 



eep shenring in Roniney Marsh [Eng.] com- 

 :e3 about miil.-umnier, Knd finishes about t.'j;^ 

 le of July. Those ^» ho shear latbst appri' 

 I that they gain half a pound weight in pvf>rv 

 e, by the increased per.spiration of the sheep 



vhen taken ofi" early, than it will be if sufi'ered to 

 remain on their backs until a hot sun has compel- 

 led them to seek a refuge under the walls and 

 fences." 



The foregoing authorities are apparently al- 

 together contradictory as respects the time of the 

 year in which to shear sheep. But it is to be ob 

 served that Mr Potter did not wash his sheep be- 

 fore shearing, which must make a considerable 

 difl'erence with regard to the risk from cold, and 

 moreover Mr Potter appears to have been careful 

 to shelter his sheep after shf-aring, which must in 

 a great measure obviate the disadvantages o' early 

 shearing, , 



Mr Lawrence says, " It has frequently appeared 

 to me, on reflection, that it might lie prcferabe to 



" In performing the operation of washing it was 

 formerly tie metliod to have the washers standino- 

 up to the kreast in the water, but from the incon'^ 

 venienco ind danger of it, the men requiring a 

 large supply of spirituous liquors, and being liable 

 to be attached with colds, rheumatisms and other 

 diseases, lU well as being apt to dispatch the work 

 with too much expedition, so as to leave the wool 

 insufiiciently clean ; it has been proposed by 

 Young in his Calender, to rail off a portion of the 

 water in a stream or pond for the sheep to walk 

 into by a sloping mouth at one end with a depth 

 sufficient for them to .swim ; and to pave tho 

 whole : the breadth need not be more than six or 

 seven feet. At one spot on each side of this pas- 

 sage, where the depth is just suflicient for the 

 water to flow over the sheep's back, a cask or 

 box, water-tight should be fixed for a man to stand 

 in dry." Cheaper contrivances, may, however, be 

 provided, and, perhaps, to sink an empty tub bar- 

 rel or hogshead foir the man to stand in while . 

 washing the sheep, may be as eligible as any. A 

 boat, near a bold shore of a sheet of water, with 

 one end aground, by which the sheep is introduc- 

 ed iind put overboard, while the man who washes 

 him remains in the boat, and extends his arms 

 over the sides, and thus performs the necessary 

 manipulations, furnishes a convenient mode of 

 washing .iheep. A small perpendicular waterfall, 

 under which the sheep are conducted, may like- 

 wise be used to advantage for this purpose. 



It was formerly (and, perhaps, is now in some 

 places) the practice to smear the bodies of sheep 

 immediately after shearing, with a mixture of tar 

 and fresh butter. This however is condemned by 

 intelligent writers and manufacturers. A writer 

 in Young's Annals of Agriculture, says " The ef- 

 fects of t:ir-salving are very pernicious. It causes 

 a very great waste of wool in carding— rende 



shear all kinds of sheep unwashed, and to wash •''« "'°ol f^r more difficult to work, both in spin- 

 thein after r-)iearing, when it would be much more "'"= ^"'^ weaving — produces a less number of 



