156 



GENESEE FARMER 



July. 



Wool— Its Prices; Preparation for Harket, 

 Exportation, &c. 



NCMBpril ONE. 



Agricultural Rooms, 7 

 Albany, .May 25, 1846. S 

 J. M. Sherwood, Esq., 



President N. Y. Slate Ag. Society: 



Dear Sir — My attention has been drawn to 

 the letter of Hamilton Gay, Esq., of New York, 

 addressed to the Editors of the Journal of Com- 

 merce, and published by them on the 21st inst. 



To the wool growers of New York this letter 

 is one of deep interest, and should be extensively 

 circulated. Mr, Gay, at great personal and pe- 

 cuniary sacrifices, has rendered manifest those 

 obstacles which stand in the way of a profitable 

 exportation of American Wool. Our ol)ligations 

 to him are by no means trivial, for giving noto- 

 riety to facts" wliich show most conclusively that 

 it is" in the power of the American wool grower 

 so to extend the market for his staple as to give 

 it a healthy and reasonable activity — thus secu 



change has already commenced. Had not in- 

 spection laws become deservedly obsolete, here 

 would be a legitimate field for their operation. 

 But as it is unwise to revive tlie absurdities of a " 

 by-gone age, we must carefully inquire if we do 

 not hold, in our own hands, a remedy more ef- 

 fective than any that can be furnished by legisla- 

 tive enactments. 



Fleece wool is of such a nature, and the mode 

 of transmitting to the manufacturer such, that 

 neither the faults of the wool nor the frauds of 

 the shearer can be detected, until it reaches the 

 hands of the stapler. Were it furnished by each 

 individual farmer, in lots so large that the ex- 

 pense and trouble of stapling each lot separately 

 would not be too onei-ous, it is apparent that then 

 each lot could be traced to the particular spot 

 from wiience it came, and self interest would 

 soon apply an efficient corrective both to faults 

 and frauds. 



But wool is now collected in small lots, from 

 an immense multitude, in a way that it is not 

 possible to trace each lot. The collectors for the 



,. , „„.„ ! most part are unable to discnmmate properly be- 



rmjc to present prices a steadmess and permanen- \u ■ rfc . i • f 1 1 "i 



o .'■'-' r . >■ , ' . I tween their different purchases — or, if able, have 



not the wisdom or liberality to make that differ- 



cy which they are not otherwise likely to receive. 



It has been more than intimated by the manu- 

 facturer that he is desirous of reducing the prices 

 of the incoming clip some four or five cents per 

 lb. below the prices of last year. The announce- 

 ment has produced anxiety and alarm; but it 

 would seem probable from Mr. Gay's letter that 

 if it is so, the exporter will cause the manufactu- 

 rer ultimately to regret his temerity. The cau- 

 ses which have chiefly marred the success of 

 Mr. Gay's experiment, are, in his estimation, the 

 unclean condition of tlie fleeces, as they come 

 from the hand of the shepherd, and the heteroge 



ence in price which simple justice and sound pol- 

 icy demand. 



So long as the profits on sheep-husbandry were 

 so excessive as to satisfy the most grasping cu- 

 pidity, men preferred being careful and honest, 

 to being mean and-<;areless ; but after the profits 

 have fallen to that level above which no agricul- 

 tural business can long continue, it is not to be 

 wondered at, if a rapid and great deterioration 

 takes place in the quality and condition of the 

 article, since there is no fair and equitable dis- 



crimination made in the market value. This 

 nous character of the lots of wool as they come ^^.- ,^^g ^^ ^ point not touched upon by Mr. 

 from the lofts of the wool collector. There is Gay— but one to which, it is apparent, the Amer- 



no doubt that he is perfectly correct in his esti- 

 mate, and it is equally undoubted that he might 

 have said that the same causes operate injuriously 

 upon the interests of the American grower of | fJneVool. 



Gay- 



ican manufacturer of Broadcloths cannot be in- 

 different — and which should be at any rate pressed 

 most forcibly upon the notice of the growers of 



fine wool, even in his own market : and unless 

 removed, this department of Agricultural Indus- 

 try will receive a blow from whic'i it will with 

 difficulty recover. 



It is however too apparent, that neither the 

 letter of Mr. Gay, nor the remarks of any one 

 else, will have an efficient agency in correcting 

 the faults of the unwary, or tiie frauds of tlie dis- 

 honest. The evils complained of can only be 

 cured by making a radical change in the mode 

 of conducting the wool business ; they have 

 sprung almost exclusively from this source, and 

 if it is amended, a cure is certain to follow. 



Nor is the change requisite, environed by in- 

 superable difficulties. It will be at once secured 

 by a hearty, vigorous, and concerted effort, on 

 the part of those whose interests are most deeply 

 affected ; indeed it is more than certain that the 



The present mode of purchasing wool has al- 

 ready had the effect to deteriorate the character 

 of the flocks over large sections of the country. 

 There is now an almost universal complaint, that 

 there is no adequate discrimination in price ; the 

 evil is most seriously felt, and men are in hot 

 haste to make changes in the character of their 

 flocks, which they, as well as the manufacturer, 

 will ere long, it is to be feai'ed, seriously lament. 

 The changes now being rapidly made would 

 soon be com|)lete and irretrievable, were it not 

 that there are some men who, either from the 

 magnitude of their clip, or from business connec- 

 tions, or peculiarity of situation, or some other 

 cause, deal directly with the manufacturer and 

 not with his factor, and thus obtain prices which 

 bear some sort of relation to the stapler's estimate 

 of the value of the wool. If it be important to 



