THIRD ANNUAL YEAR HOOK PART VI. o71 



Clothing — Comprises the bulk of domestic wool. It should have good 

 felting properties, but the fiber needs less strength in process of manu- 

 facture than i-; required for combing purposes. 



Grades — Designate the size of the fiber. Fleeces are generally classed 

 and described in trade as follows: Very fine or XX; fine or X: fine 

 medium (below fine, but finer than medium); medium or three-eighths 

 blood, low medium or one-fourth blood; coarse, braid. 



If the staple is long gand strong enough for combing and worsted 

 work they are still further designated by the addition of the words "de- 

 laine" and "combing." the finer grades being known as "delaine," those 

 of lower grades as "combing"; as fine delaine, three-eighths combing, etc. 



The grades of pulled wool corresponding to the fleece grades are as 

 follows: Extra; fine A; A super; B super; C super; No. 1, low or coarse. 



Unmerchantable — Not in condition to be classified or quoted in stand- 

 ard grades. In washed fleeces it generally refers to wools only partially 

 washed. 



Sorts — Should not be confounded with grades. The sorter spreads 

 each fleece on a bench, breaking it in two, three or more sorts, the fleece 

 may yield. The finer sorts in all fleeces are across the shoulders, the 

 coarsest on the breech with, in fleeces not yet well crossed, a coarse strip 

 on the top of the neck running up toward the ears, called the rick. The 

 skirts are always inferior to the body of the fleece. The skillful sorter 

 seeks the grades that will yield the sorts his mill requires. 



Stuffed — Fleeces ignorantly or fraudulently put up, with tags, dung. 

 dirt or other foreign substance inside them. 



Cross-Breds — Fine wool sheep of Merino or Saxony blood yield fleeces 

 of yery fine grade. The native and mutton breeds are of larger frame 

 and yield a much coarser fleece. Crossing the two breeds, if persistently 

 followed, yields in time a uniform fleece in grade midway between the 

 two extremes, generally three-eighths and one-fourth blood. These wools 

 are often termed "cross-bred" wools, even long after the breed has become 

 so persistent as to be known as a distinct variety, with a family name 

 of its own. 



WHY NOT KEEP A FLOCK OF SHEEP? 



Wallaces' Farmer. 



The average farmer in Iowa and adjoining states can keep fifty ewes 

 on his place and grow from forty to fifty lambs and scarcely miss the 

 feed that they require. The ewes could bring him from $1 to $1.25 per year 

 in the shape of wool. The lambs, if they come in February and are well 

 fed, should sell in June at from $3 to $5 per head, depending on the cose 

 of getting them to the great markets. If they can be shipped at carload 

 rates, they should bring him $4. In otherwords, the income from a ewe 



