WASHING AND SHEARING SHEEP 287 



further fact that the wool is left in better condition after 

 it is washed when on the back of the sheep. Where thus 

 washed time is given for the yolk which lubricates the 

 wool to rise in the same to add to its luster. If the wool is 

 washed after it is shorn, the bright appearance is so far lost. 



The difference in the ease with which sheep may be 

 shorn when they are washed may not be much in some 

 instances, as when there is not much dirt in the wool. In 

 other instances the difference may be material, for the 

 reason that the fleece contains much dirt. 



The saving in the cost of transportation when wool 

 is washed is frequently material. The saving in the trans- 

 portation of washed wool results, first, from the removal 

 of dirt from the wool, and second, from the removal of an 

 excess of yolk. Frequently the excess of yolk is greater 

 than the amount of other foreign substances in the wool. 

 Particularly is this true of Merino wool. Medium wools 

 usually contain a less amount of yolk than fine wools, 

 and long wools a less amount than medium wools. The 

 shrinkage in the scouring of fine wools of good quality 

 when washed is about 50 per cent ; when not washed, it 

 has been put at somewhere near 70 per cent. The objec- 

 tion to the shipping of wool unwashed, arising from cost, 

 becomes stronger as the distance from market increases. 

 Under some conditions it is, of course, of but little 

 account. 



When wool is washed it is easier to adjust the price 

 that should be paid for wool of the same grade. The 

 quality in such instances is so far gauged by the charac- 

 ter of the washing. 



When the wool is unwashed, no two fleeces may be 

 exactly alike in the amount of foreign substances which 

 they contain, and the same is true in a much greater de- 

 gree of wools obtained from different flocks. To pay the 

 same price for such wools would not be just, and to dif- 

 ferentiate the price based on the amount of foreign sub- 

 stances which the wool contains is very difficult. 



