104 



which remain suspended thereto, after being detach- 

 ed from the skin : the longer the shearing is delayed, 

 the more the wool is pulled oft'. 



Q. Has not late shearing other injurious effects ? 



A. It is the occasion of another loss : when the 

 wool has attained some lines in length, it is cut off at 

 the time of shearing : although it might increase the 

 weight of the fleece, the owner loses, instead of gain- 

 ing by it ; because the intelligent purchaser and 

 manufacturer knows, that this new wool, being very 

 short, separates from the old, when it is worked : so 

 much therefore is the price of the fleece reduced : 

 The new wool, being cut at the ends, is not so long 

 as it ought to be the year following.* 



Q. When the new wool makes its appearance, is 

 there any thing to be done before shearing ? 



A. There is nothing to be done, if the fleece is to 

 be taken off without washing it ; but this is a bad 

 custom : it is better to wash the wool upon the body 

 of the sheep before shearing it ; it takes out the dirt, 

 which fouls, and may spoil the fleece, if it remained 

 a long time in the urine, dung, and mud, with which 

 it is loaded. The owner knows the value of the 

 fleeces better when he sells them at the weight, after 

 they have been washed on the sheeps back, than if 

 he sold them in the dirt. The purchaser under- 



* Upon the fall and renewing of sheep's wool, the French editor, 

 M. Huzard, recommends to be read, the account that citizen Tassier 

 and he had made to the class of the National Institute, for mathematical 

 and physical sciences, (8th and 9th years,) on the sale of wool, and on 

 the fine sheep's wool of the flock of Rambouillet. It is the result of 

 our observations and experience, that the breed of fine wooled shee,p 

 does not rcne'.v the wool annually....//wza>v 



