164 AV ASHING SHEEP CONSIDERED. 



grasped by the fore parts, plunged down deep into the water 

 and the re-bound taken advantage of to lift it over the edges 

 of the vat without touching them. It was set carefully on its 

 feet, and, if old or weak, a portion of the water was pressed 

 from the fleece. Washing under a mill-dam was performed 

 in substantially the same manner, except that the washers 

 were compelled to stand in the water. 



These modes rendered wool quite too clean for the 

 fashion of the present day. The reasons for the change have 

 been elsewhere adverted to. The object now is, with a large 

 proportion of the growers, to see how little they can wash 

 their wool and yet have it sell as "washed wool." It would 

 be difficult, if indeed desirable, to give any instructions on 

 this head ! English sheep require very little washing 

 compared with the Merino, and it can be done with sufficient 

 expedition and thoroughness in any clear, running water of 

 proper depth. 



Utility of "Washing Considered. — The utility of 

 washing sheep before shearing is now the subject of a good 

 deal of discussion. One class of producers advocate it on 

 the ground that it prevents a useless transportation of dirt to 

 market, that it improves the saleableness of wool, and that it 

 avoids the operation of an unequal rule of shrinkage applied 

 by buyers indiscriminately to all unwashed wools. Another 

 class of producers contend that it is injurious to the health 

 of sheep ; that it renders shearing impracticable at that period 

 which best tends both to the comfort and productiveness of 

 the animal, and which enables the producer to avail himself 

 of the early wool markets; that it subjects sheep to the 

 danger of contracting contagious diseases ; and, finally, that 

 any custom of buying, or conventional rule of shrinliage, 

 which is found unfair in itself or opposed to public utility, 

 should be promptly abandoned. 



The objection to transporting dirt is a good one, unless it 

 secures some advantage which counterbalances its cost. I 

 am satisfied that washing, properly conducted, in water of 

 suitable temperature, is not in the least injurious to decently 

 hardy sheep — not any more so than an hour's rain any time 

 within a month after shearing — the rain being of the same 

 temperature with brook water when fit for washing. But if 

 it can be shown that shearing before about the 25th of June 

 is better for the sheep, or gives the grower a better chance 

 to sell, there is a weighty and perfectly legitimate reason 



