270 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



pelts are then taken up and the wool pulled by hand. Coincident 

 with the pulling the operator sorts the wool. Furthermore, 

 the pullery keeps each month's product by itself, thus multiply- 

 ing the assortments by twelve, and resulting finally in over two 

 hundred kinds of pulled wool, each having a distinct trade name. 



Wool pulleries report a strong demand from wool manu- 

 facturers for black wool which is used to produce various shades 

 of natural gray by mixing it with white wool. Black wool thus 

 sells at a premium, for the supply is small. Pelts that vary in 

 color through various shades of gray and brown are not in the 

 class of black pelts because the varying color makes them an 

 unknown quantity in color mixing where definite results are 

 wanted. Very few black fleeces are uniformly black. They 

 often contain white, gray, and brown fibers mixed with the 

 black. This explains why the so-called black fleece sells at a 

 discount, while the locks of black wool collected by the wool 

 pullery bring a premium. 



The growth of wool must be at least three-fourths of an 

 inch before it may be profitably pulled. Some pelts are not 

 pulled, no matter how long the fleece may be, because the wool 

 is not saleable, or not valuable enough to pay for pulling. 



Scouring. Scouring is the first process in wool manufac- 

 turing. The purpose of the scouring process is the removal of 

 dirt and grease from the wool. It does not remove paint, burs, 

 seeds, chaff, nor twine. Paint is clipped from the wool before 

 scouring. If the grease wool comes to the scouring plant in 

 bales, it is first put through a shredding machine which loosens 

 it. This machine is equipped with a blower for the removal 

 of dust, and a screen for the removal of heavy dirt. Scouring 

 is accomplished by passing the wool through a series of four 

 bowls or vats, each containing a different liquor. These liquors 

 are composed as follows: 



Bowl No. 1 Mild alkaline solution, preferably potassium; temperature 



130 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 Bowl No. 2 Same alkaline solution as first bowl, plus soap; should be 



a potash soap; temperature 120 degrees. 

 Bowl No. 3 Soap solution only; temperature 110 degrees. 

 Bowl No. 4 Luke warm water. 



Nearly all the yolk or grease is removed from the wool in 

 the first bowl, This is done by the saponification of the oil* 

 the soap readily dissolving in the warm liquid. The action of 



