318 OHIO EXPERIMENT STATION: BULLETIN 294 



March 10, 1913, the sheep were fed heavily to fatten them for mar- 

 ket, which accounts for the larger gains made between April 22 and 

 June 7. 



While the differences in rate of gain made by the early and by 

 the late shorn sheep were not great, they favor shearing early 

 enough to avoid hot weather in the spring. 



Other things, not shown by this experiment, in favor of early- 

 shearing are the avoidance of much of the trouble from maggots 

 which is likely to result if sheep are not shorn until late in the 

 spring, and the elimination of "tagging" the sheep to prevent the 

 wool around the breech from becoming soiled when the sheep are 

 turned out to pasture. 



YIELD OF SCOURED WOOL 



Table IV shows the percent of scoured wool yielded by the 

 grease wool from each lot for each of the 3 years. Since the wool 

 shorn in 1911 was not a full year's growth, it is not included in the 

 averages. It should be remembered that these percentage yields 

 are based on the weights of both the grease and the scoured wool 

 when dried to a constant weight at 150 F. This makes the yields 

 somewhat higher than those secured by commercial wool scourers 

 or manufacturers, who usually base their scouring percentages on 

 the weight of the grease wool under ordinary atmospheric condi- 

 tions, when the wool may contain from 8 to 15 percent of moisture, 

 and upon the weight of the scoured wool as it comes hot from the 

 dryers, with a low moisture content. 



In studying the percentage of scoured wool yielded by the 

 grease wool from w r ashed and from unwashed sheep, as shown by 

 the averages of the 2 years, 1912 and 1913, in Table IV, it may be 

 seen that when the sheep were shorn April 12, the grease wool from 

 the washed sheep yielded 40.63 percent of scoured wool, while the 

 grease wool from the unwashed sheep yielded but 36.56 percent of 

 scoured wool, or a yield of 4.07 percent more scoured wool from the 

 grease wool produced by the washed sheep. When the sheep were 

 shorn June 1, the grease wool from the washed sheep yielded 38.65 

 percent, while that from the unwashed sheep yielded but 32.96 per- 

 cent of scoured wool, or a yield of 5.69 percent more scoured wool 

 from the grease wool produced by the washed sheep. Attention is 

 called to the fact that the difference in favor of washed wool with 

 regard to the yield of scoured wool was greater in case of the wool 

 shorn June 1 than in case of that shorn April 12. As has already 

 been stated (p. 312), this is probably due to the warmer weather 



