SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 6J3 



usually worth about fifty cents, more or less, according to their condition. Each man'* 

 wool is carefully examined ; if put up in bad order, it is so noted, and a deduction made by 

 the sorter, to make it as it should be. So that it is no object for a man to send to the Depftst 

 wool in a bad condition. 



The Advantages. — The foregoing facts would seem to be so plain that it cannot bat 

 necessary to refer to the advantages. No man, however, is more at the mercy of the spe«u- 

 iator, than tlie wool-grower. The very fact that he has so many kinds of wool in bis clip^ 

 prevents him from ascertaining the market value of the whole, lor being in comparatively 

 small quantities, he has not enough, if ever so well sorted, to make it an object for the differ- 

 ent manufictuiers to visit him. He is therefore compelled to sell his whole clip at ?h«» 

 price of his present quality, and at prices from five to fifteen cents per lb. under the reafi 

 market value of his wool. Allow me to illustrate by an example. A farmer has his wheat 

 corn, oats, and barley, all mixed, and carries it to market in this condition. Will anybody 

 give him the value of each kind of grain? On the contrary, they would not be willing to 

 pay even the value of the cheapest kind. And yet each kind by itself has a market vaiue_ 

 Precisely in the same situation is the wool-grower, except that he has no means of knowing 

 the value of the vaiious sorts of wool, except from the speculator. 



The advantage of the Depot system, then, is, that there his wool is properly sorted. The- 

 wheat is separated from the corn, the corn from the oats, and the oats from the barley, and 

 each is made to bring its fair market value. By having an extensive correspondence among 

 the manufacturers throughout the country, I am kept constantly advised of the market ; ana 

 knowing the price of cloth in the cities, I am enabled to know to a certainty what the price 

 of the various grades of wool should be. 



When the manufactm-er can get the kind of wool he wants, and in large quantities, he i* 

 willing to pay, and does pay a better price than when he has to buy that which he does act 

 want, to get the right sort. It also equalizes the market, and brings the producer and tW 

 manufacturer together, without being compelled to pay agents or speculators, and prevents 

 that fluctuation of the market which is always produced by speculation. 



But there is another very great advantage growing out of the system. It enables the wool- 

 growers in the various sections of the country to compare wool, and to know who has reaily 

 the best and most profitable kinds of sheep. It has been strilvingly manifest with me tiuis 

 season. For I have been enabled to point out to people in different States West, whera- 

 they could find the most profitable sheep, by the wool which had been sent me. And m 

 one instance men had been over five huivlred miles after sheep, and paid high prices, wheui 

 there were sheep in their own town worth double the money. 



There is no difficulty in sending wool here fi-om any part of the country bordering npoa 

 the Ohio, or its tiibutaries. The expense of ti'ausportation will range from one to one aa^ 

 a half cents per lb. — depending much upon the bargain made with the clipper. I have re- 

 ceived wool this year from all the AVestem States, in some instances as far West as the Rfis*- 

 sissippi River, and the average cost for freight has been about one cent per lb. 



It was urged by many last spring that this city was not a good point, inasmuch as it 'wb3 

 not sufficiently central in its location. For nothing is more certain, than that a wool Depot, 

 to be successtid, must be so located as to command a large amount of wool. The larger- 

 amount you can concentrate at a point, the more rapid and sure wiU. be your sales. To this 

 city the products of the West natm'ally tend, and to this point the producer can calculate vritJj 

 great certainty when, and at what expense it will arrive. But after its trans-shipment here;, 

 expenses accumidate, without any corresponding benefit. And it is peculiarly so, in regartB 

 to wool, coming as it often does in bad order, sacks toni, broken, and wet. 



But I have made my letter aheady longer than I intended, and in speaking of my owa 

 Depot have perhaps gone more into detail than is necessarj'. 



This much I must be permitted to say to every wool-grower, that the Wool Depot system^ 

 properly conducted and patronized, is indispensable to ultimate and profitable success. 



I remain, my dear sir. 



Very sincerely yom's, 



T. C. PETEKy. 



Messrs. Perkins and Brown Lave a Depot at Springfield, Mass. ; and 

 I believe the establishment of two or three others is in contemplation, by 

 companies or individuals. 



Conducted with skill and fidelity, there can be but little doubt that these 

 establishments are alike beneficial to the wool-grower and manufacturer. 

 That Mr. Blanchard's and Mr. Peters's have thus far been so conducted, there 

 is not the least doubt. Of the other I know nothing, though report speaks 

 well of it. The design was not regarded with much favor, in the oat- 

 set, by many of our most e.xtensive wool-growers. They preferred to " do 



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