The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-16
SHEARING THE FLEECES.
C. M. HARGER WRITES OF LIFE ON
PLAINS SHEEP RANCH.
The Great Gathering of the F1ocks and
the Rape of the Fleece-Songs and
Amusements of the Shearers-A Gala
Month.
Especial Correspondence.l

Especial Correspondence
ABILENE, Kan, May Offspring is
time of activity on the great sheep rancho
of the plains. What with the care of null
titudinous wobbly legged lambs, the herd
ing of the focks and the annual shearinI
"bees," the shepherds are kept unusually
busy. The woolly creatures that are founc
in punches of 10000 to 100, 900 on the prai
ries are by no means the oily coated, heavi
! ly built meripos or cotswolds of the east
ern farm. Long legged, with their taper
| ing noses, and wool only upon the back anc
sides, they are a peculiar feature of th'
! plains.
Some portions of the west seem made fol
sheep Western and southwestern Texas
western Kansas and the plains of 'Wyominf
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
tioDs are taken up. The life of the sheep
herder on the plains is the most monoto-
nous imaginable during large portion OF
the year The flock is easily tended, and
from a town or station the days drag by
YEARLY.
But the Landing season is full Of solici-
tude, and the shearing time brings the one
gala occasion of the year. II the ranch be
a 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 a lively rivalry between the
shearers as to which shall do the most
work.
The shearers work in the wool shed,
close against one of its faces, in which
there are openings leading to pens outside,
where are maSsed the Enshorn 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 IS to 100 sheep
a day, and to the unaccustcmed 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 a shearer has Shipped the skin it
is his duty to cry "Tarr" upon which cry the
''tar boy" with pail of tar and brush,
runs quickly. and daubs a little of the
liquid upon the wounded place.
AS fast as the 1eeces 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 fieeces 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 aretumbled
in, and he treads them down, rising gradu-
ally as the sack 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 go to $50 pounds of wool
each, according to the grade of the wool
Ten of these sacks piled on a wagon make
a good load for four horse team, and after
their forty mile ride across the prairie and
a two thousand mile one by rail return the
owner a handsome sum in the New York
or Boston wool markets The greater por-
ton 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 wooden 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 a 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 |
seal" a 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 |
1t valueless by reason of impurities that |
cannot be separated from it. To destroy the |
insects and heal the sores a strong solution |
of tobacco, salt and water is prepared, into !
which each sheep is dipped after being
sheared. Sometimes a second dipping is !
necessary, and this takes place about July |
l, just before the hot weather. The ''scab" |
Is the shepherd'sSwo 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 |
shearing time. The men gather around /
the tents in which they camp during their
stay and tell stories and sing songs until one !
might almost fancy himself in a bivouac. |
The men are usually rough in speech and |
but they have large assortment /
Of plainSmen's lore which makes pict- |
lresqpe 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 for their mothers in that pecul- |
Jar lamb language which enables eve TO
distinguish her child and 90 directly to it,
though it be one among a thousand, there
S abundant background to bring out the
songs and stories in stronger relief.
Occasionally the monotoRy Is varied by |
/ ram fight Two long horned creatures
are let loose in the prairie, and by little
udicioUs menacing are made angry at one
another. Slowly, steadily, with eyes fixed
on the opponent, they back off ten. twelve
PAGES. Then a rush, lowered heads and a
rash! II seems As though the touch skulls |