Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-07-24

II, as 1t was commission they wanted,
and the more grease the greater num-
Der of pounds to get commission on.
This has been the manner of buying
wool too long, and the farmer has had
no encouragement to put I'D his wool
in good condition, and the wool grow
ers who do put their wool up right are
getting tired of it, hence the establish
m ent Of the Wool Growers Exchange,
which gives them an opportunity of
selling their wool on its merits, and the
manufacturer the chance of buying
such wool as he wants without buying
such as he does not want, and we hope
our farmers who do put up their wool
in good condition will take advantage of
it, and so encourage their neignbors to
90 and do likewise.
WASHING SHEEP don't claim that
my opinion amounts to very much, or
that know much about the subject:
nevertheless l have an opinion, and if
1t is not worth much it will not cost
much. l have grown some wool for
twenty years, and have washed and
sheared a good many sheep, have no
ticed how sheep have been washed
come to the conclusion that washing
sheep was more or less a fraud, and
just so long as sheep are washed just so
long the fraud continues. In the first
place, there is no such difference be-
tween washed and unwashed wool as
buyers make (one-third) In the next
place. the average man will make all
out of the washing be can, and not one
wool buyer in ten knows whether a
fleece of wool has been washed or not.
This | know for certainty. | have
seen tight three pound fleece shrunk
one-third because the buyer was told il
was unwashed, when the lot contained
dozen f1eeces that would weigh from
eight to ten pounds that were hall
grease and gum, that raj ed no Objec-
ton, that would waste more in cleans
ing than the tight fleece would weigh; |
and three fourths of the wool that is
sold is not bought on its merits, washed
or not washed. SO much per pound is
the ruling plice tor certain kinds of
wool, dirty or clean; nothing is held
out TO induce wool grower to wash
his wool clean and put it up nice, when
he gets the same price as his neighpor
who ducks his sheep once and passes
them out OF the water which scarcely
reaches the skin. But it can be said of
these sheep, they were taken down into
the water, and came up out of the
water, and therefore their wool was
well washed. A man to be good
judge of wool, must have some expert
ence in either growing it or hand
ling it in some way, but most of
the wool IS bought by agents with
out experience either way. A fleece
of firm, nicely crimped Merino wool,
where the sheep have been housed
through the winter, never looks as we'll
after being washed as before; it looks
mashed and crumpled, and loses that
shiny gloss that it had before washing,
and an agent must have practice and
judgment to understand these things,
which many Of them do not possess.
1t requires more nice discriminating
judgment to handle wool than most |
any other product of the farm, and yet
much of it is handled by men that are
not judges.
My opinion is that wool should never
be washed on a sleeps back 1t in
duces wool growers to 60 through the
mock ceremony of washing when they |
don't intend to get out particle Of the
dirt, and then tell the buyer it is thor
oughly washed, and he don't know the |
difference. Hence more wool is bought |
without the exercise of any Judgment, |
than any other way. A buyer who UNI
derstands bis business don't need to
ask whether the wool is well washed or
not. His judgment will tell him this.
If he depends on the word Of the pro-
ducer for this information, he will not !
always get an answer that IS strictly |
true. L don't mean to say that wool |
growers are more dishonest than other |
men nor quite as much SO, for half the |
buyers will cheat in weight if you give |
them chance. There is ust as much
sense for q man that has fat cattle to |
sell, 70 tell the buyer they are very fat
when they are not, as for man to say |
his wool is washed clean when it is very
dirty. No buyer would take the mans |
word on the cattle, but would buy on
his own judgment. Just so it should
be on wool. Yet it requires more ex-
perience on wool than on CATTLE. The |
only correct way is to shear without
washing, and then there is no deception
on the part ofthe grower, and no chance
for any; and if he asks more for his
wool than it is worth, and the buyer
pays the price, nobody is to blame.
And then there are other objections
to washing. Some people have to keep
up the old custom of getting a jug OF
whisky or some old, hard cider that
would make a hog saueal to taste of,
and get about half drunk, which is an
objection in a moral point of view.
And many times sheep are half drown
ed by Indifferent and careless hand
ling. and become so exhausted they |
have to be drawn home in a wagon,
which is taken along for the purpose of
picking up the ones that have fallen
out by the wayside by bad usage.
Then many persons take cold from go
ing into the water, not being used to 1t.
La conclusion | would say everything
can be urged against washing and
nothing in its favor, for, God knows
people are strongly enough inclined to
be dishonest without any inducements
held out to them to be 80.