Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



305 



Belgium, and Germany. These five countries annually consume over 

 85 per cent of the total imports of the world. 



Principal American wool markets. — The principal wool markets 

 in the United States are Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and 

 New York. During the past few years Boston has handled nearly 75 

 per cent of the total wool crop of this country, and nearly 60 per cent 

 of the foreign wool shipped into this country. 



Factors that determine the value of wool. — The value of wool 

 depends upon certain well-established factors, many of which have 

 been indicated and discussed in the foregoing paragraphs on wools and 

 wool manufacture. Following is a list of these factors:^ 



1. Shrinkage. — American wools may shrink from 25 to 80 per 

 cent. The loss in scouring is a complete loss to the manufacturer. 

 Grease wools are valued on a scoured basis. Sand, dust, dirt, burs, 

 and seeds lower the yield and affect the value of the clean wool. The 

 following table shows the important part that shrinkage plays in fixing 

 prices. At the top are various prices per pound of clean or scoured 

 wool. In the column to the left are various percentages of shrinkage. 

 By the use of this table we find, for example, that if clean wool is worth 

 $1.00 per pound and the shrinkage is 65 per cent, the wool is worth 35 

 cents in the grease, whereas, if the shrinkage is 60 per cent, the grease 

 wool is worth 40 cents. 



2. Class and grade of the wool. — Ordinarily combing wools are 

 worth about 10 per cent more than the short or clothing wools. 



3. Character in wool. — ^This refers to the color or whiteness of 

 the fiber, the soundness, luster, evenness of distribution of yolk, and 

 the degree of crimp which gives elasticity to the fiber. A fine Merino 



U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 206. 



