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ON THE LIVE-STOCK

of shearing ; in the one the operator sits on the floor or on theground, lays the sheep on its back between his knees, beginswith the belly, and afterwards, having tied the animal’s legs,proceeds very expeditiously, at the rate of four or five sheepin the hour, or from forty to fifty a day. This is the com-mon method of shearing Cheviot sheep, and the other willbe afterwards described. Every careful shearer, or clipper ashe is termed in Scotland , is cautious to avoid wounding theanimal, particularly by stabbing with the points of his shears,which is often dangerous. When he clips a little of the pelt,tar is applied to keep off the flies, and the wound soon healsover. The fleeces are neatly lapped up, after any filthy spotshave been dipt offj the shorn side outwards, beginning at thebreech-wool, and using that of the neck and shoulders as abandage. Before the shorn sheep are turned out to pasture,they are marked, commonly with the owner’s initials, by astamp, or boost in provincial language, dipped in tar heatedto a thin fluid state, and it is usual to place this mark on dif-ferent parts of the body, according to the sheep’s age.Either then, or at smearing, it is also not uncommon to givethem a mark on the ear, for the purpose of distinguishingdifferent flocks, and the several ages of the same flock.

16 . The principal markets for Cheviot lambs in the southof Scotland, arc held in the month of July, the first on thefifth of July, so that the lambs may commonly be weanedwhen about three months old, and sometimes sooner.When the ewes are gathered to be washed or shorn, the ewelambs to be kept for supplying the place of the old ewes an-nually sold, are stamped in the same way as the ewes, andsometimes also marked with a hot iron on the face. All thewether lambs, and the worst of the ewe lambs, go to marketeither in two or in three lots. The first lot consists of whatare called the top wether lambs, the second is drafted fromthose that remain, and the third contains the smallest andworst shaped of both sexes. A well managed small flock sel-dom requires so many distinctions ; the best wether lambs