232 THE COMPLETE FARBIER 



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 

 season is hot ; and with ewes, the udders are prevented from 

 becoming sore.' 



In separating for the purpose of washing, the flock is 

 brought to the side of the washing pool, and those lambs 

 and sheep of different kinds fit io be washed are put into 

 separate inclosures ; and such lambs as are too young to be 

 clipped are not washed, but confined in a fold or inclosure of 

 any kind, at such a distance from the washing place that 

 they may not disturb their mothers by bleating. 



In performing the operation of washing, it was formerly 

 the method to have the washers standing up to their breast 

 in the water; but from the inconvenience and danger of it, 

 (the men requiring a large supply of spirituous liquors, and 

 being liable to be attacked with colds, rheumatisms, and other 

 diseases,) various other modes of performing the operation 

 have been proposed. Among others, that of sinking an empty 

 hogs'ieid or other vessel of sufficient capacity for a 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 introduced and put overboard, 

 while the min who washes him remains in the boat and ex- 

 ten Is his arms over the sides, and thus performs the necessary 

 manipulations, furnishes a convenient mode of washing 

 sheep. A small perpendicular waterfall, under which sheep 

 are conducted, may likewise be used to advantage for that 

 purpose. 



It was uniformly the practice, immediately after shearing, 

 to smear the bodies of sheep with some ointment, in which 

 tar is the chief ingredient. This, however, has been con- 

 demned, as causing a waste of wool in carding and manu- 

 facturing into cloth. But if the tar is mixed with a sufficient 

 quantity of some greasy substance, the benefit may be ob- 

 tained, (which is to preserve against ticks and the scab, as 

 well as to increase the growth of the wool,) without any bad 

 consequence resulting. A writer in Rees' Cyclopedia, on 

 wool, says much in favor of a composition greatly used in 

 Northumberland, England, and gives the following directions 

 for making it : ' From sixteen to twenty pounds of butter 



