FRAUDS IN DOING UP WOOL. 175 



6 the strings are tied ; the catch lifted and crank reversed, when the 

 straps, one inch wide each, at g, draw back the follower, and the 

 fleece is released in perfect shape." 



There are several other forms of wool presses, but they 

 possess so little proportionable value that I do not regard 

 them as worth describing.* 



The fleece comes from the press in a nearly square mass, 

 and if it is properly folded, and placed in the machine with 

 respectable skill, not a black or outside end of a single lock is 

 visible ; and none but the best parts of the fleece are visible. 

 This is expected by the buyer, and therefore has no odor of 

 deception about it. 



The twine used in tying should be of flax or hemp. If 

 of cotton, particles of it are liable to be mixed with the wool 

 and to become incorporated with the cloth. They receive 

 different colors from wool in the process of dyeing, and might 

 thus spot the surfaces of dark, fine cloths. Wool twine should 

 be large enough not to render the continuous tying of it too 

 painful to the fingers, but if over large, it looks unwork- 

 manlike and also as if the seller was anxious to sell twine for 

 wool. The three bands of twine placed on each fleece in the 

 press is sufficient, unless it comes loose at the edges and 

 requires an extra band placed round it, the other way, after 

 being taken from the press. 



FRAUDS IN DOING UP WOOL. Some farmers have the 

 habit, if they have a few sheep die in winter, of putting the 

 wool pulled from them into the sheared wool, distributing a 

 a handful or two into each fleece. If the pulled wool is 

 unwashed and the fleeces are sold as washed, the practice is 

 a serious fraud. If the pulled wool is washed, or is in the 

 same condition in this respect with the fleece wool, then it is 

 a petty fraud for pulled wool is not as well adapted to some 



* The only possible exception, I think, is the original of this press, worked by a 

 lever. It is not so good an implement as the above, but is much more conveniently 

 made with the rough tools usually found on a farm. One end of the lever passes 

 through a hole in the middle of the cross-piece or brace, which is nailed on the left 

 hand legs of the machine, near their bottom, as seen in the cnt. The strap (c,) which 

 is attached in above cut to the movable head (6,) is fastened to the lever under the 

 front end of box (d.) The lever is a couple of feet longer than the box, so that a man 

 can, if necessary, stand on the elevated end to press it down. That end is raised 

 about half-way from the floor to the box, when the movable head (b) is slid back to /. 

 Consequently when forced down by the foot, it draws forward the sliding head toward 

 the stationary one, in the same manner as the crank does above. A strip of notched 

 iron attached perpendicularly to the inside of one of the fore-legs with a piece of iron 

 on the lever to catch into the notches, holds down the lever to any point to which it is 

 pressed. The lever-press requires to be fastened to the floor by a hook and staple at 

 the rear end, to prevent it tipping up when the weight of a man is put on the lever at 

 the other end. 



