210 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



ter, and plunging the lambs into it, taking care that 

 they do not dip their heads or taste the water, will 

 destroy them aii." Arsenic, however, is so danger- 

 ous a poison, and, wherever used, is so liable to pro- 

 duce mischief, that we would recommend an infu- 

 sion of tobacco as being equally effectual, in this 

 country as economical, and in every respect safe and 

 preferable. Few animals better repay care and at- 

 tention than sheep, and no one should think of ma- 

 king the business of wool-growing a profitable one 

 who is unwiUing or unable to spare to them the time 

 necessary for this purpose. 



The most critical period in the year for the sheep 

 is shown to be the time of shearing. Divested of 

 the dense covering it has so long worn, it is ex- 

 tremely sensitive to all changes of temperature, and 

 feels the effects of heat or cold in a tenfold degree. 

 If turned out where there is no place of shelter, the 

 skin will be burned and excoriated by a hot sun, and 

 a disease of the surface, not unlike the scab in ap- 

 pearance, will be induced. If, on the contrary, as is 

 not unfrequently the case in our variable climate, a 

 cold rain, with the thermometer at the freezing point, 

 succeeds the days chosen for shearing, the sheep, if 

 left unprotected, will suffer greatly from colds, should 

 they escape being actually chilled to death, a result 

 not very uncommon with the finer wooled and thin 

 skinned kinds. A farmer of our ac(Juaintance as- 

 sures us, that last year a sudden change of tempera- 

 ture took place tl;e day he finished shearing his 

 flock ; and, though he had them immediately collect- 

 ed and placed in shelter, some ten or a dozen were 

 unable to stand, and were brought by his men to the 

 sheds, and for some time it was doubtful whether 

 the effects of so great and sudden a chill vvould not 

 be fatal to most of them. His flock is of the best 

 grades of Saxon and Merino ; and though, by great 

 care, all were finally saved, it furnishes a strong 



