t of the
Missouri river.

[Illustration: SHEEP SHEARING]

To harvest the wool from such an enormous number of backs is a task
that calls for expert shearers, men who can handle the big shears of
the machine clippers with a skill that comes from long practise. The
shearing must be done at the right time of the year. If the wool is
clipped too early, the sheep suffer from the cold; if the shearing
comes too late, the sheep suffer from intense heat, and in either case
are bound to lose weight and value.

To meet the exacting conditions a class of men has risen expert in the
sheep-shearing business. These shearers begin work in southern and
middle California, Utah, etc. Another month finds them busy in the
great sheep states of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon, where they
find steady employment until July, when they go to the ranges of
Canada. In this way the shearers keep busy nearly all the year, and at
high wages.

The Mexicans are particularly expert with the hand shears, though this
form of clipping is being done away with, owing to the installation of
power plants for machine shearing. These plants are installed at
various points on the great sheep ranges. Long sheds are erected and
shafting extends down both sides of the shearing place. Twenty or more
shearers will be lined up in one of these sheds, each man operating a
clipping machine connected with the shafting. The sheep are brought in
from the range in bands of 2,500 or more, and are put in the corrals
adjoining the shearing sheds. Then they are driven down chutes to the
shearers.

A shearer reaches into a small corral behind him and pulls out a
sheep. With a dexterous fling the animal is put in a sitting posture
between the shearer's knees, and then the steel clippers begin
clipping off the wool. The machine-shearing saves much wool, as it
gets closer to the skin of the sheep and shears more evenly. In fact,
some sheep owners say that the increased weight of their fleeces at
each shearing is enough to pay the extra expense of running a power
plant.

As fast as the sheep are turned out by the shearers they are run along
a narrow chute and each one is branded. The branding mark is usually a
letter painted on the back of the sheep so that it can be plainly seen
when they are coming through a chute. The mark remains on the fleece
and is always easily distinguished.

=Fleece.= There is a great variation in the weight of fleeces. Some
sheep, such as tho