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



MANUFACTURER'S TEST OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC WOOL. 



Even after grading in the eastern warehouses American wools often 

 sell below foreign wools of similar grade and quality because the latter 

 have been skirted and carefully classified before baling, while Ameri- 

 can fleeces go to the mills in the same shape as they leave the shearing 

 floor, being graded so far as is possible without untying the fleeces. 



Comparative results from two lots of wool, one American (Idaho 

 Soda Springs) and one foreign (Australian 50's crossbred), of the same 

 grade and the same value on a scoured basis, as given by a Philadel- 

 phia manufacturer, are shown below: 



Table 5.— Sorting and scouring test of domestic and foreign wool. 



Item. 



Soda 

 Springs. 



50's cross- 

 bred. 



Cost in grease cents. 



Loss in weight per cent. 



Shorts, strings, clips, low, etc do. . . 



Main sorts do. . . 



Actual shrinkage main sorts from total weight of wool purchased do. . . 



Shrinkage of net weight of wool scoured do. . . 



Actual cost main sorts in grease cents. 



Cost per clean pound do. . . 



18.5 

 1.96 

 11.25 

 86.79 

 57.89 

 5L46 

 20.06 

 41.32 



28.0 

 .87 

 .17 

 98.96 

 37.36 

 36.70 

 28.29 

 44.69 



As is shown by these figures, the manufacturer bought the Ameri- 

 can wool for 3.37 cents per clean pound less than exactly similar 

 foreign wool. This was possible mainly because the former lot 

 contained only 86.79 per cent of what was really wanted, against 

 98.96 per cent in the case of the foreign wool that had been skirted 

 and put up without string. The amount and value of the off sorts 

 in American wools varies, and to the extent of that variation the 

 purchase of these wools involves uncertainty that partakes of gamb- 

 ling and necessitates buying at a figure low enough to cover loss in 

 use or sale of the part not wanted and the greater expense of sorting. 



It is the grower who eventually pays all penalties and suffers most 

 of the loss due to inferior preparation of wool. It must not be over- 

 looked that the Australian sheep raiser incurs considerable expense 

 in his method of preparing his wool for the market. He enjoys some 

 advantages favoring the production of extra quality, most marked 

 in the case of fine wools. In the case above cited the wools were of 

 the same grade and the comparison is wholly fair, as the net result 

 shown is on the scoured basis and for wools of equal clean value. 



METHODS OF BUYING AND SELLING. 



It is the time-honored and oft-repeated statement that buyers pay 

 little attention to the individual clip. Instances are cited in which 

 the dealer buys clips without having seen the wool. However, the 

 dealer may know more concerning the clip than the grower is aware of. 

 He knows the amount of shrinkage for the section for a number of 



