422 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:\IER. 



Sept. 



of wool and careful buyer, can make more 

 money by the purchase of a lot of wool with 

 strings forty times around each fleece, than he 

 can by the purchase of another lot with strings 

 only twice around, he will prefer to take the 

 lot with the excess of twine, all resolutions to 

 the contrary notwithstanding. On the other 

 hand, if Mr. Farmer thinks that his wool will 

 bring him more without strings, he will so put 

 it in the market. 



In regard to unwashed wool, one-third de- 

 duction is as near what it should be on the 

 average as any figure ; but I hold that no fixed 

 rule can be made that will do justice to all 

 parties, — for while A. may have wool that 

 should have a deduction of at least one-half 

 made on it, owing to an excess of yolk and 

 dirt, his neighbor B. may have so kept his 

 sheep that a deduction of one-fourth might be 

 more than should be made. Every buyer 

 should be a good judge enough of wool to 

 make his own rules to govern his purchases. 

 Many, in allusion to a statement made by me 

 at the Auburn meeting, have asked why is 

 wool from sections where the water is soft 

 cleaner than that from limestone or hard water 

 sections ? This question 1 might answer by 

 asking another, (as I only referred to washed 

 wool,) Why is soft water better than hard 

 for any washing purpose ? In answer to in- 

 quiries why wool can, as I stated, be purchased 

 in Michigan to better advantage to the manu- 

 facturer than here and in some other sections, 

 I wish only to be understood as referring to 

 buyers who are well posted and who discrimi- 

 nate between a good and bad conditioned arti- 

 cle. Wool there is all taken to market before 

 being sold, and he who discriminates most gets 

 the best, while an indifferent buyer gets what 

 the first does not want, at one or two cents per 

 pound less, while the actual difference is from 

 three to eight cents per pound. Wool raised 

 on sandy soils, like those of nearly the whole 

 of Michigan, is generally more free from ani- 

 mal oil than that which is grown on heavy or 

 clay lands. I have also found that wool raised 

 on the large prairies of Illinois has less strength 

 than Michigan, Ohio and Eastern State wools. 

 I will not now try to explain why this is so, 

 but leave the question for some future occa- 

 sion, or to some one more able than myself to 

 offer the correct solution. I will only say that 

 it is a fiict which I have noticed in an expt^ri- 

 ence of more than twenty-live years in manu- 

 facturing. Why should tags and unwashed, 

 dead wool not be put inside of fleeces ? For 

 several reasons ; among which is the one that 

 the purchaser can form but a poor idea of what 

 he is buying, as all is hid from view and he is 

 obligeu to depend entirely upon information 

 obtained from the seller as to the amount thus 

 put in. I find such information is not at all 

 times to be depended upon ; and when deti^ct- 

 ed, he claims that he knows nothing about it, 

 and charges all upon the shearer, the boys, or 

 the hired man. 



Old wool is worth more than new for some 

 reasons, among which are the following : It 

 takes color much better, especially where bright 

 and fancy dyes are required ; it works better 

 and wastes less in carding ; and it makes firm- 

 er cloth than can be made from the same qual- 

 ity of new wool. If two or three years old it 

 is all the better. 



Several have made inquiries about the use 

 of shoddy, of what and into what it is manu- 

 factured. Although I never owned or used a 

 pound of it, I have seen much of it made and 

 used. Shoddy is made from old rags which 

 are torn by machinery for that purpose, (not, 

 as some suppose, of Yankee origin,) and are 

 thus brought back to wool much reduced in 

 length and strength. It is mixed with wool 

 before carding, and thus becomes thoroughly 

 incorporated with the fabric, and must of 

 course lessen the value of cloth for service in 

 proportion to the amount used. Another arti- 

 cle much used in the adulteration of cloth, and 

 the use of which I consider worse on the part 

 of the manufiicturer than the stuffing of fleeces 

 with dead wool by the farmer. Is termed shear- 

 ings. It is made In all factories, and Is largely 

 imported from Germany and France. It is 

 felted into cloth while being fulled, and is 

 merely an outside covering which is soon found 

 at the lower part of the garment, between the 

 outside and the lining. This Is supposed by 

 many to be shoddy, but Is much worse and can 

 be detected by rubbing the cloth over white 

 paper." 



TALK ON" ■WORK, HEAT AND HEALTH. 



Workers in the fields — strong men and 

 sturdy boys, toiling beneath a blazing sun, 

 and exposed to rain and chill — let's have a 

 talk together about work and health. Not a 

 fussy talk, like a set of fidgety nervous fel- 

 lows, afraid to stand up square lest some of 

 the inside works give out ; but just a word of 

 practical common sense. (Common sense, by 

 the way, is rather ?<Hcommon.) 



There''s a good deal of work to be done In 

 the six months ahead that can't be got round, 

 or pushed aside, unless you like sheriffs and 

 red fiags. If the old fiirm Is to Le ke])t, and 

 to gain In value, this work ahead must l)e met 

 and done up. For three months we shall have 

 some awful hot days, with burning sun and 

 sultry air, "muggy," as they used to say, 

 "down East." Thunder storms will come up 

 suddenly, wetting you to the skin, and with raw 

 winds that check perspiration sooner than Is 

 healthy ; and a damp, chill day, now and 

 then. In between these scorchers, to say noth- 

 ing of fogs and dews. But this work is to be 

 put through, blow high or low, and it's a good 

 plan to start and go on in such fashion as to 

 hold out strong and come through sound and 

 bright. 



It may be well to "take an account of stock," 

 as merchants say, — we mean stock of bone and 



