Page:Husbandman and Housewife 1820.djvu/126

, sometimes half they take, because they are to bear inspection; such might be salted and smoked or dried in the sun, put up in dry casks, afforded at a low price—by which means, thousands of barrels might be saved which are now suffered to rot on the shore.

HEAT one gallon of tar, and eight pounds of salted butter, melted in another vessel, and mixed gradually with the tar; boil it gradually a while, constantly stirring it; then pour it out to cool—part the wool, and rub in the ointment, so as to affect the whole skin. This should be done in October. Give sheep plenty of salt.

SHEEP may be dipped or washed in half hogshead tubs, or other suitable vessels, filled with a decoction of White Hellebore, Poke Weed or Skunk Cabbage, (the plant has all these and several other names..) [sic] The sheep, or lamb, may be seized by the legs, and plunged into the decoction, with the back downward, taking care that none of the decoction enter the mouth, nose or ears. On taking the sheep from the tub, squeeze the fleece, gently, and suffer it to drip into the vessel.

IMMEDIATELY after the sheep are shorn, soak the roots of the wool that remains all over with oil or butter, and brimstone, and three or four days afterwards wash them with salt and water. The wool of the next season will not only be much finer and softer, but the quantity will be in greater abundance.