THE CO-OPERATIVE SALE OF WOOL 1 5 



ment of his flock and was at no pains to inform himself as to the condition 

 and the needs of the wool trade. 



The organization of the co-operative sale of wool did away with these 

 disadvantages. In the measure of its still Hmited adoption it has ensured 

 to farmers owning sheep a just price for their produce. It has, in the first 

 place, eliminated the middleman ; either because — as is notably the case 

 in Saskatchewan and Manitoba — the Department of Agriculture under- 

 takes to sell the wool sent to it by producers, or because the responsibiUty 

 of marketing the wool of members has been assumed by a large associa- 

 tion of sheepfarmers. The latter expedient is employed in Alberta, Quebec 

 and Prince Edward Island. Centralization has solved the problem of trans- 

 port, complete car-loads of wool being made up, and a considerable economy 

 has thus been effected. 



But it soon became apparent that for the remunerative marketing of 

 wool there was another necessary condition. Co-operative selling of wool, 

 without preliminary grading of its different classes, is an improvement on 

 individual selling but can be of only limited benefit to sheepfarmers. The 

 Dominion Department of Agriculture made a new forward step possible 

 when it placed expert graders freely at the disposal of the provincial govern- 

 ments who asked for them. Thus a uniform system of grading has been 

 established in various Canadian provinces and has allowed a firm basis to 

 be given to the value of wool. 



The scientific grading by experts has further enabled those numerous 

 improvements to be ascertained, wliich it was necessarj^ to introduce into 

 the methods of shearing and of preser\'ing and packing fleeces in order 

 entirely to obviate their deterioration. Carefully drawn-up rules have 

 been communicated to the farmers as being the sine qua non of the sale of 

 their wool by the Department of Agriculture. Short courses of instruction in 

 the rural centres, lectures and practical demonstrations — organized or 

 provided by the Department of Agriculture — have produced a tendency 

 towards the modification of sheepfar:ning in accordance with the princi- 

 ples of .science. Farmers have become aware of the importance of selecting 

 the breed of their sheep with a view to wool production and they attempt 

 to remedy the defects of their wool. Thus the flocks of Canada increase 

 while their intrinsic value is augmented. 



Such are the general results of government intervention in favour of 

 the co-operative sale and the grading of Canadian wool. 



Altogether, according to the official Preliminary Report of Wool Grad- 

 ing Operations in 1916, the government experts, who have worked in 

 all the provinces of Canada, have graded 140,178 fleeces, weighing 1,004,512 

 lbs. and produced on the farms. 



The importance of this form of co-operation, now in course of develop- 

 ment, cannot be too much emphasized, especially at the present time. 

 Facts concerning it are instructive because it is fitted both considerably 

 to increase the production of wool and to improve its quality ; and might 

 well be adopted in man}^ countries and contribute to augmenting their 

 wealth in sheep. 



