524 = 255 
Practical Agricultiu e. 
when the ewes have been shorn ; another in the fly season ii 
midsummer ; another in September, another in November 
while dressing by the bottle is sometimes requisite in Februar) 
Dips. Arsenical dips, being dangerous, are not so much employen 
as formerly ; compounds of tobacco-juice, hellebore, and othe 
vegetable poisons, with sulphur, soap, soda, »Scc., are more largel 
used ; but of late years dips prepared with carbolic acid, c 
otherwise obtained from tar, have come into great favour ; 5om 
of them, however, while effectually killing all skin parasite, 
cleansing the skin, and by the after-smell warding off flies for 
considerable time, have the misfortune to discolour the woo 
The most widely-known dips are Bigg's, McDougall's, Long': 
Reid's, Cooper's, and the Glycerine dip ; while Little's Chemic; 
Fluid, the latest invention of this class, possesses all the qualif 
cations required in a perfect dip. For both pouring an 
dipping mixtures, oils are to some extent employed ; chiefly o 
mountain farms. It is mainly in Scotland that smearing c 
salving is still practised upon high mountain grazings as 
Smear. defence against the wet and cold of winter. The smear is 
compound of American or Archangel tar and grease-butte 
Oiutment. sometimes with a portion of Gallipoli oil. Mercurial ointmei 
is still believed by some farmers of the old school to be tl 
best remedy for scab ; but its use is now very limited. 
Time for The time for shearing has altered considerably of late year 
shearing. Before Mr. Coke, first Earl of Leicester, commenced his cell 
brated Holkham sheep-shearings, or the Duke of Bedford h 
agricultural gatherings, under the same designation, at Wobur' 
it was the usual custom to clip between the 1st of June ar 
the 1st of August. Since the establishment of the Royal Agr 
cultural Society, the time has gradually changed to the 1st 
May, for early clipping ; sheep for Show purposes are shorn sti 
earlier ; and very few flocks are left unshorn after the 1st, > 
at most the 2nd week in July. Mountain sheep, as the Chevio 
and Welsh, are shorn in July, and some as late as August. Tl 
time depends, of course, very much upon the season and tl 
state of the flocks, as well as upon the breed and locality, 
the season be cold and the flock in poor condition, it is deemt 
better to wait for sunny weather ; but if the weather be warm 
early summer, the sooner the sheep are out of the wool the fast 
they make mutton. 
Sheep-washing. Sheep-washing before clip-day, though generally conducted 
a primitive manner, has received greater attention of late yeai 
Except in hilly districts where running waters abound, the pi 
cess is not now performed by men standing up to their midd 
in a running stream, and plunging, sousing, and rubbing t 
sheep one by one, as caught and passed to the bathers for th 
