^22 Af/iHcultural Gazette of N.S. W. 



[Oc/. 2, 11)08. 



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Roniney Marsh sheep feeding beneath bananas. 



Tliis breed is very siiitaVile for tlie ciHi.st and niiikes an excellent I'armer's sheep. 



WOOL. 



Getting up of .s)aaU v)ooI clvpg. — Many t'arjiierw are losing up to a penny 

 a poun(] in their wool by not paying sutHcient attention in preparing it toi- 

 market. There are cases where it might just as well be put into a l)ale witli 

 a pitchfork and trodden down. Pi-actically everything goes in together-^-v 

 fleece, bellies, lucks, dags, short a,nd long staple, fine and coar.se, merino and 

 crossbred. Now what can a buyer make out of tliis ? How can 1ih tell the 

 proj)ortions of each in a bale !' The consecpience is a low value all round can 

 only be risked and many will not bid for it at all. 



It is not advocated to make too many sorts of a small cliii, but it always 

 pays to keep your fleece wool by itself and also to skirt ott' any stained or 

 injured parts. If the wool is a good length, which it generally is in faimei-^ 

 crossbred s, make two classes of it — flrst combing, which should be the 

 majoi'itv of the fleece and of course the liner portion, then all the coarser 

 portion should go into second combing, but there is no hard-and-fast ride and 

 judgment must be used ; but make the two sorts as even as possible in each, 

 that is the point, and any fleece that is not flt for either should l)e cast out 

 and }int into a l)ale or bag by itself. Do not make an uneven lot for th<' sake 

 of any fleeces. 



Dirty and matted fleeces nuist always come out : tender staple should 

 rever be put with sti'ong. 



The bellies should always l)e kept ))y themselves, and it is better to remove 

 the stained ])ai'ts from tiiose of wethers. 



Piewx. — Where the clip is of moderate size it is always best to makt' the 

 pieces into " firsts" and " seconds," keeping the large and bulky ones for firsts, 

 the remainder l)eing the smallci' and the dirtier poi'tions for seconds. Tlie 

 locks should be ahvays put by themselves. 



Now in a fai'mer's clip thci-e may be .some very small lots, say of bellies oi- 

 locks, l)ut they can lie put into bags and kept separate, and it will pay to do 

 it ; all that is recpnred is a little common-sense and tiouble. 



Sew everything up neatly and brand bales or bags legibly in more than onf^ 

 place with stencil iid-:, with a letter to siginfy sex as well as sort of wool witliin. 



