The Owosso times., 1882-01-13
Preparing Wool for Market.

thistles or even burnt lumber, lampblack
and linsced oil for market; nothing but the
natural produce Of the sheep, wool.
1t is well established fact that the
strength Of wool. its other cloth making
qualities and its handling appearance, de-
pead very much upon the conditions OF its
growth, that wool from poor, s;ckly, un
cared for sheep is tender, dry and harsh,
while from u sheep kept in good even con-
dition 1t has much more strength, having q
soft and lively appearance; can be drawn
into finer thread, and used in the making
Of a better quality OF cloth. Hence the
preparation of wool for the market should
commence with its growth, and continue
all along through the season, keeping IL
free from the above mentioned ingredients.
Then comes the sbearing. When to
shear Shall the wool be shorn unwashed
or washed might properly be part of this
essay; but as there is to be paper on
washing sheep. which suppose contcm-
plates washing the wool with the sheep,
will leave this part by simply saying could
the practice become general, ii would be
better for the sheep. more convenient. and
tend to make our wool bring relatively
near the value of the secured pound If it
was all shorn unwashsd. If shorn I'M
washed, and could this practice too be
made general, the sheep should be thor
oughly tagged, the tags wei! washed and
put in each fleece. But AS il now is, though
few may do this, their fieeces are lost
amid the multitude OF others. and the
manufacturers know nothing of it, and If
psrchance the sorter comes across one of
these flesces, he thinks some one has made
q mistake, and he passes il by scarcely no
ticed, and untold Of
| q, g l.a -.
it for the market. If unwashed, the sheep
should be sheared from the Goth of April
10 the 18th Of May. according TO the
weather; il washed from the last of May
to the 10th of June have no sympathy
with the practice Of washing sheep the first
of June ard letting them run until the first
OF July, or shenring unwashed us late as
the middle of June, rs some do, thinking
thereby To add an ounce or two to the
fleece, rs all such practices lesson the mar
ket value Of the wool, and tend to injure
the reputation of our Michigan wool
Much depends Oh the manner of shear
ing, The wool should not be cut twice, as
this Injuries the appearance of the fleece
when done up. also lessons its value to The
manufacturer as there will be more or less
waste in these flyings The sIearer should
keep the fleece together. not parting it on
the shoulder rs some do. / have seen
shearers open the fleece on the right shout
l,ivr,- running up the neck from the middle
Of this shoulder anti shearing tn the mid
die of the left shoulder. am,-hy the time
The fleece was off this part was to pieces,
would give all such shearers the "go by"
Both shoulders should be left whole, as
here is the finest wool of tho fleece. Meth
TT should the shcarcr cut the tags or fine
| b nf tI,nt tla,u xx,il Fall \ a
inside of he fleece
Next comes the doing up Of the fleece.
While we are not, in the preparation of
wool for market to use-any deception, we
have right and it is expected and desired
by the wool buyer that we SO do up our
wool that il will have neat and good ap
pearance, and so il will not waste in hand
ling would not divide the freces, as
this looks rs though we were trying tn de-
ceive the buyer, which. if he is an expert,
, We can not do and il he is not will not
know whether they arc divided or not, be.
sides il puts th, sorter TO unnecessary in
convenience, MS he desires all of the same
; quality of wool in each fleece to be togeth
or that he may The more readily sort it.
use whit is known as Edwards Wool
Folder. II consists OLA box and table com
b.ncI, t"o side leaves, two eud and Il mid
die lid. operated By springs and levers.
r The box when the levers are down is 81
, feet wide by 5 feet two inches The boz
Is 12 inches each way. This size is adapt
ed to fiecces weighing from TO 30 lbs.
and without using The Irvine boards, can dc
up flecces weighing 30 lbs. 1t has movabl,
bottom (raiscd by foot lever, with twin,
!. board to be placed on the top of the DO,
when the fleece is folded up. against which
= | ha &c hv p,n ,1a hnf
, tom sufficiently tight so the strings may b.
loosely tied. then the elasticity of tn,
wool will make the fiecces just compac
enough to stay in shape and hold well to
gether without appearing solid. use 81,
strings three each way. On this foldc
they unwind from balls and are not Gu
c until after they are tied cut the twin
s close to the knot. this makes just strin.
7 enough to hold the fleece in shape and no
. enough TO seem us though we desired t
sell twine, a thing to he avoided. A fleec
l. put up as described keeps its shape, yet j
e loose, so the buyer Jan easily detect an,
hard substance in it. and appears large &C
cording 10 its weight. 1t decreases tn
i market value Of wool TO crowd il into
J. small box and tic SO tight that il is hare
, and soggy; the buyer judging it to b.
heavy, greasy wool sets his price accord
ingly.
suppose anything that we can do to o
It with our wool that will increase or dc
/. crease its price may be part Of its pre-
/, paration for market and would be proper
to consider in this paper, were 1 compe
y tent 10 do so. When shall we sell; I,
& whom shall we sell, shall we bunch on
wool or each sell their own; where shall
\ we sell, on the street OF at our barns
: might properly be- discussed here. If w,
continue to each sell his own wool woult
: sell it al home, no, on the street whcr,
8 we may be subjected to all the trick
\ (Which are many and combined games o
. the street buyer Pile your wool SO ]
u will show as IL will average. putting SOM
Il of the poorest tleeces aud some OF the bes
e in sight, so arrangr IL that you can say I,
9 the buyer: 1T will average as good al
: through as you see it i" We ought to dc
wise some plan whereby we may sell on
: woods direct 10 the manufacturers, not b.
. obliged to divide the profits with so man,
. standing between the real grower aud tin
manufacturers. We ought TO be compe
!, tent to do cur own business, and bcliev
u that by united, pcis stcnt. considerate ant
Y honest action we may. Again, think i
q Is lat OF the business Of this association
to adopt and carry out such means rs viii
y do away with every practice that tends L
r lessen the market value aud reputation o
!. oui woods.
. Brother wool growers. let us by on
actions and words make the slovenly an,
dishonest manner of handling and putin:
r up wool for market that is and has beef
r practiced. so disrcputable that it will sool
be. a thing of the past. and by our unitet
efforts use every means IN our power &
hasten the time when our woods shall b