(99.) _Washing._ The time for clipping varies much, being earlier in seasons which have been preceded by favourable weather and an unstinted allowance of food, than in such as have followed a rigorous winter, disease, or any other cause calculated to arrest the growth of wool. The season may be said to be limited by the middle of May and the middle of July; but this should not be taken as a rule of conduct, the best guide being the state of the new coat, which ought always to be well above the skin before shearing is attempted. The wool, unless among some mountain flocks, is always, in this country, washed prior to its removal from the sheep's back; but in Spain that operation is always deferred till the fleeces have been collected, when they are subjected to a thorough scouring, in public buildings appropriated to the purpose, and termed _lavatories_. This is a plan in many respects superior to ours. Its adoption by our farmers has been recommended by Dr Parry. There cannot be a doubt of its being the preferable mode as regards the saving it would effect in the lives of sheep; but as it is well known that shearing is much facilitated by washing, and that on the neatness with which the clipping is accomplished the quality of the succeeding crop in a great measure depends, some little time will be necessary to determine the comparative value of either mode. In New South Wales it is customary to make the sheep swim across a stream for two or three mornings before being washed, by which means the yolk is softened, and the removal of grease and dirt much promoted; but this, though a good plan in that mild and even climate, could not be looked upon as safe in a temperature so variable as that of Britain. In cases however, where great nicety is required, the plan in vogue in the former country, that of dipping each sheep, before washing, into a caldron of warm water, might be beneficially adopted.