Los Angeles herald., 1891-06-13
Lspef lal Correspondence.l

OF the plains. What with the care of mul
titudinous wobbly legged lambs, the herd
ing of the focks and the annual shearins
"bees," the shepherds are kept unusually
busy. The woolly creatures that are founc
in punches of 10000 to 100000 on the prai
ries are by no means the oily coated, heavi
ly built merinos or cotswolds of the east
ern farm. Long legged, with their taper
ing noses, and wool only upon the back and
sides, they are II peculiar feature of the
plains.
Some portions of the west seem made fol-
sheep. Western and southwestern Texas
western Kansas and the plains of Wyoming
and Montana, with their level reaches OF
grass, their brush and shallow streams
make the ideal grazing land
The population in the sheep region is
sparse, for sheep must have much ground
to feed on. Agriculture does not thrive
and few of the government quarter sec
tions are taken up. The life of the sheen
herder on the plains is the most monoto-
nous imaginable during large portion OF
the year. The flock is easily tended, and
as he is usually score or more of miles
from town or station the days drag by
wearily.
But the lambing season is full of solici-
tude, and the shearing time brings the one
gala occasion of the year. If the ranch be
large one the men at the corral, who have
been so lonely all the season, find them
selves, in April and May, in the midst of a
veritable village. The shearers come out
from the railroad towns in big wagons,
bringing provisions and tents with them
They camp out for the "job," and as all
the work is piecework-so much per fleece
there is lively rivalry between the
shearers as to which shall do the most
work
The shearers work in the wool shed,
close against one of it's faces, in which
there are openings leading to pens outside,
where are massed the unshorn sheep.
When the fleece is removed the shivering,
white, bleating animals are turned in the
other direction and go out on the prairie
to feed.
All work is at high pressure. A first
class shearer will clip from rs to 100 sheep
day, and to the unaccustomed observer
the rapidity with which the work is done
is marvellous. 1t seems but a moment be-
tween the dragging in by hind leg of
struggling, kicking wether and the disap-
pearance of the same animal through the
opposite door minus the handsome coat he
has worn through the winter.
When shearer has shipped the skin it
is his duty to cry 'Tar" upon which cry the
tar boy" with pail of tar and brush,
runs quickly and daubs little of the
liquid upon the wounded place.
AS fast as the fieeces are tumbled on the
floor they are gathered by the packers, who,
taking them to tables, fold them tightly
inside out, and tie them with stout cord.
A tie box is usually employed in this oper-
alton. When tied the feeces are cubes of
about one foot on each side. They are
piled away in the shed until several hun
dred are gathered, when the baling begins.
Long sacks of coarse cloth are hung up,
and boy or man lowers himself to the
bottom. One by one the feeces are tumbled
in, and he treads them down, rising gradu-
ally as the saclS fills until the top is reached,
when it is sewn up and is ready for draw
ing to the railroad station. The sacks are
about nine feet long and three in diameter,
holding from $50 to $50 pounds of wool
each, according to the grade of the wool.
Ten of these sacks piled on a wagon make
good load for a four horse team, and after
their forty mile ride across the prairie and
two thousand mile one by rail return the
owner handsome sum in the New York
or Boston wool markets. The greater por-
tion of the wool is marketed in Boston,
which city, by reason of long inheritance
and proximity to the manufacturing towns,
offers the readiest access to the woolen mill
purchasers.
1t is somewhat remarkable that despite
the advancement made in other industries
the shearing of today is done with the
same implement that was used a century
ago-the common sheep shears with wide
blades. OF all the inventions patented for
shearing by mechanical contrivances not
one has proved so successful as to be pop
ular. The favorite form of inventions has
been in the nature of BARRIERS clippers,
sometimes run by betting from machinery
overhead in the wool shed, but the men
who do the work cling to the old fashioned
shears. There is fortune ahead for the
man who invents a cheap and successful
substitute.
On many ranches, especially in the south
ern climate, the sheep at shearing time are
put through another process called dip
ping" The animals are afflicted with ''the
scab," scrofulous disorder which is in
tensified by the presence of ravenous in
sects which find ready dwelling places be-
meath the warm WOOL If too severe the dis
ease causes the fleece to drop off, or makes
it valueless by reason of impurities that
cannot be separated from it. To destroy the
df&SSCtS dltl ucsil buC SOI u cttOut SOlublOu
of tobacco salt and water is prepared, into
which each sheep is dipped after being
sheaped. Sometimes second dipping is
necessary. and this takes place about July
!, just before the hot weather. The ''scab''
is the shepherds worst foe, and when it
once gets into a flock it is almost impos-
sible to wholly eradicate it.
The long evenings are the bright spot in
shesring time. The men gather around
the tents in which they camp during their
stay ,and tell stories andsingsongs until one
might almost fancy himself in bivouac
The men are usually rough in speech and
manner, but they have large assortment
of plainsmens lore which makes a pict
uresque collection as it comes from their
lips. With the bleating of the sheep in
the pens and the occasional answer of one
in the flock outside; with the calling of
the lambs forSheir mothers in that pecul-
.ser lamb language which enables eve to
dis s<inguish her child and go directly to it,
thou, Sh It be one among a thousand, there
is abun. .stant background to bring out the
songs and stories in stronger relief
Occasionahythe monotony is varied by
a ram fight. Two long horned creatures
are let loose in\the prairie, and by little
judicious menacfng are made angry at one
another. Slowly, eteadily, with eyes fixed
on the opponent, they back off ten, twelve
PAGES Then rush, lowered heads and
.crash 1t seems as thoughsthe tough skulls