22 RURAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN 1641. 



When wee intende to clippe our sheepe, wee allwayes sende 

 worde to'the sheapherde the night afore, that if hee hke the 

 morninge hee shoulde bringe downe his sheepe next mominge 

 by sixe of the clocke, or soone after ; that they may be gotten 

 penn'd uppe, and bee ready for the shearers aboute seaven. 



Our manner is to sette our barres on some cleanly grass- 

 grownde, neare unto some bame or howse that is ready swept 

 and drest purposely against that time ; and then, if wee dishke 

 or doubt the weather, wee may (on a suddaine) putte them into 

 the howse and keepe them dry. Twenty barres will serve 

 sufficiently for three hundreth or twenty score sheepe ; and five 

 cUppers will finde imployment for two windere. 



Yow are to pro^^de against this time for everie twelve score 

 sheepe, tliat is to marke, a gallon of tan-e and Hlbs. of pitch ; 

 taiTe is usually lOd. a gallon and pitch Ik/, a pownde ; tarre is 

 sometimes 1 2d. a gallon,* and sometimes againe att 7d. and 8d. 

 a gallon ; and pitch oftentinies at 3 hal-pence a pownde. 



Then soe soone as your shee})e are penn'd up, yow are to 

 make an hole in the grownd hard by wheare the shearers chppe ; 

 this yow are to make wade within and straiter upwards, makinge 

 it just fitte for the tar-potte to stande within ; then are yow to 

 make a mouth to it, whearin to putte your stickes ; then are 

 yow to have a paire of bellowes by yow, and the markinge 

 stuff ready to marke wdthall, by that time the clippei-s beginne ; 

 and soe are yow to marke your sheepe ever as they are chpped ; 

 and when yow wante implo>nnent, to bee markinge of your 

 lambes. Wee provide allsoe for this businesse, fower men and 

 two little boyes or girles, whearof two of the men, that have 

 the most skill, are to stande, the one on the one side of the 

 leape and the other on the other, and to wnnde up the fleeces ; 

 beinge allwayes both att one fleece ; to these yow are to give 

 charge that, in lappinge up of a fleece, they allwayes putte the 

 inne side of the fleece outwardes, because it is the whitest and 

 hath the fewest kemj)-ha}Tes ; and likewise that they allwayes 

 make theire bande (for tjnnge up of theire fleece) of the necke, 

 and not of the tayle, because the tayles are oftentimes hairy. 



One man is to stande allwayes witliin the ])anvs, and to gette 

 and give out the sheepe that are to bee clipped, and the lambes 

 that are to bee marked. Another man is to holde the sheepe 

 and laml)es whiles they are marked. The shepheard is to take 

 over the sheepe, and to liave them reatly against the clippei-s 



» Marshall estimates the average price of a gallon of tar to be a shilling, in 1788. 

 It is now thrie ; but an money may safely be said to be now three times more plen- 

 tiful than it was then, the farmer is no woree ott". A eonii)lote list of jirices for the 

 last throe h\indre<l ycors would teach farmers, what they so much need, content- 

 ment. 



