Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 297 



In the early days of the American wool trade, the half-blood, 

 three-eighths-blood, and quarter-blood grades referred supposedly to 

 wools from sheep of half, three-eighths, and quarter Merino blood, but 

 they have no such significance now. Wools grading as high as half- 

 blood can come from sheep having no trace of Merino blood. On the 

 other hand, quarter-blood would rarely come from a sheep containing 

 any Merino blood. Low quarter-blood is a grade lower than quarter- 

 blood, and braid is the lowest grade of all. It usually refers to luster 

 wool such as might come from a Lincoln or a Cotswold sheep. The 

 grading of wool in the wool houses is done by expert graders who know 

 wools so well that at a glance they can determine the grade to which 

 the wool belongs and the kind of material into which the wool will be 

 made. Many of these wool graders may never have seen a sheep in 

 fleece, neither do they know the breeds of sheep and the characteristic 

 fleeces. Hence, the wool grade does not depend upon the breed of 

 sheep, and the wool from different individuals of the same flock and 

 breed may be graded diff"erently. Wool, then, is graded on the market 

 according to its merit, regardless of the breeding of the sheep which 

 grew it, although some of the names of the various grades may seem 

 to indicate the breeding of the sheep. 



Half-blood wool approaches fineness, but is not so finely crimped 

 as the fine grade. It is also somewhat longer in its class, and usually 

 shrinks less in its class. Three-eighths-blood has a tendency toward 

 the coarser wool. It is less crimped than half-blood and less elastic. 

 It also shrinks less when scoured because it is less oily as a rule. 

 Quarter-blood represents the next step down the scale in fineness and 

 crimp, with still less shrinkage. It is longer than three-eighths-blood. 

 Practically all three-eighths-blood and quarter-blood wools are of 

 combing length. Braid wool varies from 4}/^ inches up to 12 or 13 

 inches in length. Its name comes from the fact that it is particularly 

 suitable for the manufacture of braids. It is generally used, however, 

 in fabrics requiring long and coarse fibers. For bunting or flags there 

 is no other wool its equal. Because of its length and coarseness it 

 does not appear as one of the grades of clothing wool. 



The foregoing statements regarding the comparative lengths and 

 shrinkages of the various grades of wool may be illustrated by the 

 following table ' giving the most acceptable length and the estimated 

 average shrinkage of each grade of Montana combing wools: 



1 Compiled from National Wool Warehouse and Storage Company's Bulletin, 

 Dec, 1915. 



