94? Essay o?i Sheep, 



warm climate, where sheep must suffer greatly 

 under so thick a fleece, as well from the heat 

 as from the lice that it would generate. It is, 

 however, a great advantage not to be compelled, 

 from the falling of the wool, to shear at an 

 inconvenient or improper time; and this ad- 

 vantage is, I believe, confined solely to the 

 Merino breed. How far it may extend to the 

 mixed breed I do not know. 



In some countries the sheep are shorn twice 

 a year; but wherever this practice prevails, I 

 believe it is owing either to the wool's being 

 too coarse for use when it attains its full growth, 

 or because, as the winter approaches, and no 

 proper provision is made to keep them, the 

 sheep falling in flesh, would not keep their 

 wool till shearing time. 



It is a general practice in shearing to tie the 

 legs of the sheep together. This is very im- 

 proper: it forces the sheep into a position in 

 which the intestines being pressed, they dis- 

 charge their urine and dung at the time they 

 are sheared, which fouls the wool, and is of- 

 fensive to the operator; besides which, the skin 

 being by this means drawn together, there is 

 much more danger of cutting the sheep than 

 if they were placed in their natural position. 

 It has, therefore, been recommended to tic 



