PLACE FOK SELLING WOOL WOOL DEPOTS. 177 



PLACE FOR SELLING WOOL. JMy own experience and 

 observation for more than thirty years, in regard to selling 

 wool, has satisfied me that, on the whole, the best, and, to the 

 farmer, by far the most satisfactory place for disposing of his 

 clip, is at home in his own wool room. It shows better there 

 than in the sack ; and the bargain a man makes for himself, he 

 is bound to rest contented with. The local competition, too, 

 in places frequented by buyers, I think usually runs up prices 

 to quite as high a point as the general market authorizes at 

 the time of sale not unfrequently quite as high as would be 

 received directly from the manufacturer, after deducting 

 freight and the other incidental charges which cluster round 

 such transactions. 



WOOL DEPOTS AND COMMISSION STORES. The wool 

 depot system, as it was called, was introduced by H. 

 Blanchard, at Kinderhook, New York, in 1844. It was 

 conducted on the same general principles with the ordinary 

 commission establishments, but varied in its method of 

 transacting business. Each lot of wool was graded and 

 stapled and the owner credited with the amount ; but his 

 wool was no longer kept separate. The charges were for 

 receiving, sorting and selling, one cent a pound ; cartage, 

 three cents a bale ; and insurance, usually thirty cents on $100 

 for three months. The anticipated advantages of the system 

 were that each owner would get the highest market value for 

 his wool, and that the manufacturer could afford to pay a 

 better price when he could buy the kind he wanted unmixed 

 with others. T. C. Peters opened such an establishment at 

 Buffalo, New York, in 1847, Perkins & Brown one at 

 Springfield, Massachusetts ; and I think others were com- 

 menced. It was anticipated for a time that they would 

 receive and sell most of the wool of the country, but, though 

 conducted with acknowledged skill and probity, the system 

 failed utterly. Americans generally prefer to do their own 

 bargaining. Wool commission stores, however, still flourish 

 in the important centers of commerce. For a class of 

 sellers those like the prairie wool growers, for example, 

 who have large lots and no suitable place of storage, or those 

 who are remote from regular markets and wish to realize at 

 stated periods they are indispensable. 



SACKING WOOL. When wool is sold at the barn, the 

 place of delivery is the subject of stipulation. The sacking, 

 8* 



