178 SACKING WOOL. 



unless otherwise agreed, must be done by the purchaser. It 

 is sacked in bales nine feet long, formed of two breadths of 

 " burlaps " from 35 to 40 inches wide. The mouth of the 

 sack is sowed with twine round a strongly iron-riveted hoop, 

 and the body of it is let down through a circular aperture 

 usually in the floor of the loft or room where the wool is 

 stored, if it is in an upper story. If sacked on the farm, and 

 the wool room is not in an upper story, a temporary platform 

 is sometimes erected for that purpose, and the wool tossed up 

 to a catcher. The hoop rests on the edges of the floor around 

 the hole, and the suspended sack should swing clear of 

 everything beneath. A man enters it, and another standing 

 at the mouth passes down the fleeces to him. He arranges 

 them as closely as possible in successive layers arid tramples 

 them down with his feet until they are as compact as they 

 can be made. When the bale is filled, the top of it is sowed 

 up with twine, and it is marked as the buyer wishes. It 

 renders the bales more convenient for lifting, if handles are 

 formed by tying up a little wool in their lower corners. 



