48 BULLETIN 20, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
METHOD OF SHEARING. 
While it is impractical to tell exactly how to shear a sheep, there 
being several methods of procedure, the followmg precautions are 
worthy of mention. i 
The sheep should be handled humanely and held so that they will 
struggle as little as possible. The skin should be kept stretched 
beneath the shears, so as to avoid unnecessary cutting. Special 
care should be taken in shearmg the ewes about the udder and the 
ram about the sheath. 
The shears should be kept close to the body of the sheep and not 
allowed to run off at a tangent, as this makes necessary a second 
cutting of the wool. The fleece should not be broken, but kept entire 
throughout the operation. After removing, it should be spread out 
in a clean place, cut side down, and as much as possible of the foreign 
material thrown out. The tags should be separated from the remain- 
der of the fleece and placed by themselves. Loose parts of the fleece 
should be placed in the center, ragged edges turned in, then the 
fleece should be rolled up, cut side out, and tied with appropriate 
twine. Jt should not be rolled too tightly, and too much twine 
should not be used. Once around the fleece each way is sufficient. 
Wool boxes should not be used for tying. Their use makes attractive 
fleeces, but the wool is tied up too tightly and weol buyers diserimi- 
nate against it in this condition. It is important that the nght kind 
of twine be used. A light, smooth, hard twine should be used that 
will not become entangled in the fleece, and thus leave fibers in the 
wool. Sisal is very objectionable from this standpomt. The fiber 
from this twine gets into the wool and is woven into the cloth. It 
will not take the dye, and consequently it must be picked out by hand. 
The use of sisal has caused a loss of thousands of dollars, and many 
buyers refuse to purchase wool that has been tied with this twine. 
Others cut the price from 4 to 5 cents per pound for its use. Much 
wool twine, which is objectionable m no other way, is much coarser 
than is necessary. Lien or paper twines are excellent for tying, 
the objection to paper twine being that it is stiff and difficult to knot. 
A string from 7 to 8 feet long is sufficient for tving an ordinary fleece. 
WOOL SACKS. 
The use of better wool sacks is one way in which the condition of 
the domestic clip can be improved. Australia is much more pro- 
gressive in this respect. The sacks used there are smooth, free from 
fiber, and occasionally lined with paper. On the other hand, Ameri- 
can wool comes to the market in the cheapest possible sacks, and 
frequently they are not even shaken out before being filled. Many 
sacks come to market containing only about half as many fleeces as 
ah Pe eee 
