78 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



proper attention. The reasons why the mill operators do not desire 

 fleeces tied are very forcibly stated by one of them (George B. 

 Goodall), as follows: 



I want to mention another evil which should be corrected, and that is the use of 

 twine or string around the fleeces. Vegetable fibers will not take dyes used for 

 animal fibers, and in cutting these strings by the sorters more or less of the vege- 

 tal)le fibers get into the mohair and have to be carefully burled out from the face of 

 the finished goods, which adds to the cost of each piece. A mohair fleece should be 

 simply rolled up without twine of any description. You never see it on Turkey or 

 Cape mohair. 



If mohair producers insist on the use of twine, the quality should 

 be hard and smooth, so that no particle of it will adhere to the mohair 

 when it is cut away. 



As to assorting the fleeces with reference to the quality of the 

 mohair, no common practice is followed by producers. Some assort 

 them at shearing time and pack in separate sacks, while others pack 

 all sorts together. If the producer is a good judge of mohair, the 

 former method will prove more satisfactory. When all are packed 

 together indiscriminately, the poorer grades of fiber tend to reduce 

 the average price of the whole lot. However, many prefer to pack 

 thus indiscriminately, leaving the work and judgment of assorting to 

 the commission merchant. Most of the mills purchase from the com- 

 mission merchant because of his skill in assorting. 



There are appended some opinions on this subject of Mr. Hoerle 

 which are worthy of consideration: 



Before folding up the fleeces they should be carefully assorted, if this is possible, 

 in the following way: 



A. Combing hair, or all hair over 4 J inches in length: 



1. The very finest, as fine as fine kid hair. 



2. Next finest, or average run of good doe fleeces. 



3. General run of fair doe and good wether fleeces. 



4. Coarse fleeces. 



B. Carding hair, or less than 4 J inches long: 



1. Fineness of class 1 above. 



2. Fineness of classes 2 and 3. 



3. Coarse fleeces. 



At shearing time fleeces of similar quality and length should be packed together, 

 and special care should be taken not to allow tag ends and burrs to remain in the 

 fleeces. The latter should be carefully picked out before the shearing begins and 

 the former pulled off before packing and placed in a special bag, and marked sepa- 

 rately. It is much more profitable to have small lots of low-priced short ends and 

 tags and to i^ull out with the burrs a few strands of the mohair than to have an 

 entire clip depreciated by careless shearing and packing. 



SHEDDING. 



The question of shedding is provoking much discussion among goat 

 raisers at this time. Some maintain that the goats shed regularly, 

 while others assert that the purebreds and best thoroughbreds do not 



