26 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



nine visits have been made to help other sheep men, 13 demon- 

 strations have been given, and almost 1,500 sheep sheared. 



Many requests Avere made at several of the demonstration 

 farms for help in marketing wool. These requests were referred 

 to the Department of Agriculture, and a study was made to 

 determine a reliable marketing plan. This resulted in a plan 

 whereby the wool growers could have their wool made into 

 blankets and the finished blankets returned to the growers, 

 each grower selling his own blankets. 



Those 275 wool growers who adopted the plan sent their 

 wool to the nearest of eight assembling points (six of these were 

 the demonstration sheep farms), from which the wool was 

 shipped to a Massachusetts mill and made into all-virgin wool 

 blankets. The finished blankets, 70 by 90 in size, were returned 

 to the growers, 1 blanket for each 10 pounds of grease wool 

 supplied, the growers paying $2.80 per blanket for manu- 

 facturing and transportation charges when the finished blankets 

 were delivered. Each grower attended to the sale of his own 

 blankets, most of them selling for $7.50 per single blanket, 

 although a few sold for less in large lots, — ■ some at $8 and 

 others at $10 per blanket. The price being offered for grease 

 wool in the country at the time shipments were made was 

 less than 25 cents per pound. The average price received for 

 all the blankets was approximately $7.30 per blanket, which 

 returned the farmer 45 cents per pound for the grease wool, 

 an increase of 20 cents per pound over the price offered by 

 country buyers. The wool growers sent in 28,959 pounds of 

 grease wool. Therefore the saving to these growers was ap- 

 proximately $5,791.80. The wool growers were well pleased 

 with the returns from marketing their wool as blankets. 



Bovine Tuberculosis Situation. 



Massachusetts is one of two States withholding from its 

 cattle owners and the public the advantages of bovine tuber- 

 culosis eradication through co-operation with the Federal gov- 

 ernment. 



The Congress in 1917 appropriated $75,000 to conduct the 

 work for one year. The appropriation in 1921 was $2,600,000, 

 to be apportioned to the 46 States doing co-operative eradica- 



