The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-05-30
FARM AND GARDEN.
SPREADING A FLEECE.
Hints About Tying Up Wool to the Be-
Advantage.


Hints About Tying Up Wool to tho Best
Advantage.
Our method is to tie up by hand with
out the help of any boy or press Use
a table by feet and 8 feet high.
Have a half-inch hole through the
middle of the back edge, through
which to pass the Irvine, and a notch
directly opposite in the front side in
which to fasten the end of the Irvine.
We thus use a single cord The fleece
Is placed upon the table very much as
in any method of tying. l always turn
the fleece, however, in such a way as
to have the neck end of the fleece next
to me. / append a rough outline of a
fleece spread upon the table, indicating
by the dotted line the place for divid-
ing the fleece.
A fleece needs to be lined to give it a
good appearance and keep it from pull
Ing apart. After spreading it upon the
table draw the fleece together, com
pressing the fiber as cl osely as practic-
able, then divide the fl eece as indi-
Gated, thus partially skirting the fleece,
as this takes off the coarser fbers on
the lower part of the fore legs and of
the neck; raise this carefully and place
it with white end down upon the body
fleece, covering this as well as possible.
Next lay the wool from the belly upon
this, place the loose, clean locks upon
this, and the fleece is ready to fold.
The fleece will now lie in a somewhat
irregular square, longer possibly
across the fleece than the measurement
FROM tail to shoulder.
Fold these edges, the front and back,
inward first until they nearly meet,
then make a double fold or roll the
right-hand end up; holding this in
place with the right hand bring the
left-hand end up in the same way,
catching it with the right hand; with
the left hand bring the string from the
back of the fleece, then with pressure
by the left hand hold the fleece in po-
sition while tn e end of the string is
brought up with the other hand. This
first knot ought to catch the last
point of the fleece that was turned up,
SO as to hold the fleece in form, though
no other cord were put about it. With
single knot at this point pass the
CN4Ac dIOuIl dO ElSHI angles, Tying al
the same point. If the fleece is small
and the tibers hold well together, this
is all the Irvine necessary. But in
large loose tleeces it should be passed
around twice more, drawing in what
might be termed the corners of the
fleece. This is all we ever place about
the fleece, thus having but one closely
tied bow knot. We never make prac-
tice of trying to get on as much Irvine
as possible. l have seen feeces put up
in presses with four separate knots,
each containing not less than foot of
Irvine. This practice, combined with
that of using the coarsest, heaviest
Irvine obtainable,. has mitigated against
the American wool industry very
greatly.
A couple of years we tried using the
small hemp cord recommended by
manufacturers, but there was no finan-
cial encouragement for it's continu-
ance, and as it now costs more than
the wool will bring, per pound, we are
again using the common wool Irvine.
We are careful, however, to get
light, smooth Irvine.
With this method of tying it re-
quires about four pounds to the hun
bred tieeces. The advantages of this