2 BULLETIN 206, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



American wools net the grower from 1 to 3 cents a pound less than 

 their actual value. This is due to the failure to classify the wool 

 before selling and to defects from the use of improper twine, brand- 

 ing paints, and other minor causes. 



The undesirable features which manufacturers have come to look 

 for in American wools constitute a fixed charge which is borne by the 

 producer. There seems to be little doubt that most of the work 

 necessary to place American wools upon a parity with imported wools 

 in our markets can best be done at the time of shearing. 



Prevailing methods of selling do little to acquaint the grower with 

 the manufacturers' complaints in regard to his output. In the range 

 States where the clips are large the individual grower may establish 

 for his wool a reputation that will enhance its selling price. To 

 establish fully and realize the benefit of improved methods some form 

 of cooperative effort is necessary. Especially is this true with farm 

 wools where the single clip is small, and ordinarily passes through the 

 hands of a number of uninformed dealers or local buyers and reaches 

 the manufacturers only as part of an offering made up from a large 

 number of clips, varying widely as to quality and care in preparation. 



PRESENT METHODS OF DISPOSING OF WOOL BY THE GROWERS. 



Western wools. — In the range States sheep are shorn either in sheds 

 located on the premises of the sheep owner or at plants owned by 

 individuals who employ shearers, fleece tiers, and sackers, and shear 

 sheep from various owners at an agreed charge which includes all 

 labor and material necessary to deliver the wool in sacks to its owner. 

 Each individual owner attends to the selling of his own wool. In a 

 few cases manufacturers send their buyers out to purchase wool 

 direct from the growers, but the most of the clips are sold to buyers 

 representing eastern dealers. There is no public market or wool 

 exchange in this country. All transactions in the field or at the 

 points where wool is concentrated by the dealers to be resold to manu- 

 facturers are made privately. The newspapers and trade and agri- 

 cultural papers, upon which the grower must depend for information 

 as to the value of his clip, base their reports of the wool market upon 

 such facts as can be gathered from buyers or sellers at the main wool- 

 selling centers, which are Boston, Philadelphia) Chicago, New York, 

 and St. Louis. In some seasons wool is contracted for before shearing. 



If unwilling to sell at the price offered at home the wool grower 

 may consign his wool to a commission house and take chances upon 

 the market falling or rising. Many concerns will either buy wool 

 on speculation or accept it to be sold on commission. In neither 

 case do the wool grower and the maufacturer come in contact with 

 each other, and the former understands the defects of his wool and 



