192 
DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
ing days he will feed as usual. In ten or twelve days the wound will 
have perfectly healed, and the threads may be cut and taken away. 
The only thing to be feared is inflammation of the peritoneum, which 
was divided iif the operation; but this rarely occurs, and, on the whole, 
there is not so much danger in the spaying of the ewe-lamb, as in the 
castration of the tup. 
Sheep-Washing. — This is best done in vats constructed for the purpose, 
and where large flocks are to be washed, the expense and care are well 
repaid. These vats are to be so located as that the water can be con- 
veniently let into them by spouts, and a small stream, dammed up, will 
answer the purpose. The vat should be about three and a half feet 
deep, and of such size as to admit two 1 spouts to flow into it at the upper 
end, at which two men can wash, while two others can be so employed 
at its lower end and over which the water flows. The vat should have 
a gate to draw off the water as often as fifty sheep are washed. A plat- 
form should connect the top of the vat with the sheep-yards, of which 
there should be two, one to contain the unwashed, and the other the 
washed sheep ; lambs, on account of their liability to accident, should not 
be driven with the flocks to the washing-pens. The operation of wash- 
ing is facilitated, and rendered much easier by heavy rains immediately 
preceding it, and which have thoroughly saturated the fleeces. Sheep 
are more generally injured while washing than in any other way, and 
hence, at this time the utmost care is needed in handling them. 
Shecp-Sliearillg. — This, in fair weather, may be done in from five to six 
days after washing. The operation should always be carefully done, 
and by those only who arc experts in the art. This is equally dictated 
by the true interest of the wool-grower — as by no others can the fleeces 
be kept and put into proper merchantable shape — and by humanity, as 
clumsy shearers clip and mutilate, and otherwise often shamefully abuse 
the uncomplaining sheep. 
Every thing being arranged, a shearer seizes a sheep, and sets it on its 
rump, and keeps it in this position by resting the back against his own 
legs. He removes all straws, thorns burs, etc., that may have adhered 
to the wool. While thus held, the wool is removed from the head and 
neck as far as the shoulders, and also from the belly, the scrotum, and 
the edge of the thighs. The head of the animal is then bent down 
sidewise, and the shearer, placing a leg on each side of the neck of the 
sheep, pushes out the opposite ribs by pressing his knees gently against 
the ribs that are nearest to him. He next shears the wool from the far 
side with his left hand, from the belly to the middle of the back, and as 
far down as the loins. The sheep is now turned, and the right hand is 
employed to shear the wool from the near side. The sheep is then laid 
flat on its side, and kept down by the shearer with his face toward the 
rump of the sheep, resting his right knee on the ground in front of the 
neck, and his right toe being brought to the ground a little behind and 
below the poll ; the head and neck of the sheep are thus confined by his 
right leg, while he uses his right hand to shear the wool from the hind 
quarter. In this way the clips of the shears will appear in concentric 
rings round the body of the sheep. The dirty portions of wool about 
the tail are then removed by the shears and kept by themselves ; the 
