The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1914-04-02
ADVISE GRADING
AMERICAN Wool


Letter of the department of agricul-
ture suggests the improvement of
American woods according to Aus
tralian methods:
If American woods were sent to
market graded and put up as attract
lively as are Australian woods, it is
estimated that an increase in price of
as much as three cents pound might
be received by the grower. Wool
growers, dealers and manufacturers
generally admit that the American
system (or lack of system) is very
bad, and at the annual meeting of the
National Wool Growers association
in Salt Lake City, Utah, considerable
interest was shown in the proposal to
adopt the Australian method of put
ting up wool. Three cents a pound
upon woods selling at from Is to 30
cents a pound is very high percentage
of loss, which can and doubtless will
be prevented by growers in the fu-
ture. The growers gain in this par
ticular is in no way opposed to the
interest of the dealers or manufactur-
ers.
The bureau of animal industry has
prepared a collection of American and
Australian woods for use in education
al work in this direction. This ex-
hibit includes samples of various
grades of wool, showing how grade
and value may be determined by fac
tors under the control of the sheep
raiser.
Australian and New Zealand woods
are graded or "classed'' at the time
of shearing. They are also shipped
in bales instead of sacks. The "wool
elassers' who do their work at the
shearing plant are familiar with the
basis of grading wool for manufactur
ers' uses No bale contains more than
one grade of wool, and any one bale
is a true representative of others of
the same grade shorn from the same
flock. In many instances the fleeces
are also "skirted. Skirting is the
removal from the fleece of that part
of the wool shorn from the legs and
belly Such skirtings contain most of
the dirt and foreign matter present
in the fleece and when baled and sold
separately bring their actual value
and do not detract from the appear
ance and uniform character of the
wool
Quite frequently the bales of Aus
tralian fleeces are held together by a
roll twisted from the fleece itself and
which serves to keep the fleece intact
while being placed in the bale and
after the bale is opened at the mar
ket, thus avoiding possibility of in
jury from the use of unsuitable twine.
wool Not Graded.
Only a small proportion of Ameri-
can woolgrowers separate their wool
into grades before sacking for ship
ment. Unless the flock is of very
uniform character the sacks of wool
must be opened at the warehouse and
their contents graded before being of
fered for sale Skirting is never done
in America and on the majority of
ranches the tags or dung locks are left
with the fleeces.
The breeding of the sheep is of first
Importance in determining the grade
of the wool Woolgrowers, as rule
are not familiar enough with the COM
mereial grading of wool to understand
into which OF the grades the fleeces
of particular breed of sheep would
be placed. Aside from the matter OF
grade, the value of wool is controlled
TO great extent by the feed supply
and methods of herding the sheep 90
the range. Lessons upon these points
a. well as upon the handling of the
shorn wool can be brought home by
the exhibit that has been prepared by
the bureau IF animal in. ustry. It is
not too much to expect that in the
next decade improved business prae
tees will add over 10 per cent to the
returns received for wool by sheer
| raisers