394 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



wool about the same price, no matter what the condition of the wool. 

 This makes it necessary for the careful, painstaking man to sell his wool 

 for less than it is worth, while the careless man gets more for his wool 

 than it is worth. This leaves but two avenues for escape for the progres- 

 sive wool grower. He must either ship his wool direct to the commission 

 houses of woolen factories, something not altogether a desirable prac- 

 tice, or demand that the local dealer pay him an extra price for his trouble. 

 Ordinarily selling to the local dealer is most satisfactory, if only a small 

 clip is to be marketed. It could hardly be expected that he could make 

 all the wool producers prepare their wool for the market in a careful 

 manner, and thus relieve the wool dealer of all suspicion that the wool 

 is in a bad condition. 



The change in the wool industry in Michigan from producing a large 

 percentage of fine wools to that of coarse wools has, along with other 

 conditions, brought about changes in the methods of handling the wool 

 product. For example, take the question of washing sheep, which used 

 to be a universal practice, has now fallen into quite general disrepute; 

 partly from the lack of encouragement offered by the wool dealers and 

 manufacturers, because experience proved to them that farmers were not 

 properly washing their sheep, and partly due to the fact that a large num- 

 ber of the farmers are shearing their sheep early in the spring, before it is 

 possible to wash them. 



It is a noticeable fact that Michigan wools are sold in the eastern mar- 

 kets at about two cents less per pound than the same grade of wool from 

 Ohio and Pennsylvania. It would be well for our Michigan growers to 

 study carefully into the reasons for such discriminations against our 

 Michigan products, and if possible aid in bringing about a change for the 

 better. 



Perhaps it would be well to suggest what we consider some of the 

 reasons for this condition of affairs. First, we believe that Ohio and 

 Pennsylvania have been less affected by the mutton craze than Michigan 

 and some of our western states. Localities in Ohio and Pennsylvania 

 may be found where there is a large amount of one grade of wool pro- 

 duced. In Michigan such a thing is almost impossible. In one town- 

 ship may be found nearly all of the grades of wool quoted in the market. 

 This makes it impossible for a buyer to come into a certain section and 

 buy only the grade of wool he wants without getting some wools which 

 he does not care to handle. While Michigan has a very large number of 

 flocks of registered sheep, she has also a very large number of grade 

 flocks, and the bulk of the wool produced must, in consequence, come from 

 these grade and coarse bred flocks. 



Scouring mills that handle wool on commission are not anxious to se- 

 cure our Michigan clips because they are of such varied character, pre- 

 ferring to purchase of the western ranchmen, where large lots of wool of 

 the same grade may be purchased of one individual. 



Commission men tell us, we hardly know whether to believe it or not, 

 that Michigan wool growers are more careless about preparing their wool 

 for the market than are Ohio and Pennsylvania sheep men. They tell us 

 that the Michigan wools are more apt to be chaffy and poorly tied. We 

 do believe that we could reform materially by using a twine manufac- 

 tured from flax and by using less of it. 



As a final word, we would suggest that those who have built up at a 

 considerable expense flocks of mutton sheep of high quality should be 



