Wool Production 227 



about 325 million pounds of wool annually, our mills 

 consume approximately 500 million pounds. This extra 

 amount must be imported from some foreign country. 

 Australia is the greatest wool-producing country in the 

 world, yielding about three times as much as the United 

 States. South America produces about twice as much as 

 the United States, the larger part of which is raised in 

 Argentina. 



AMERICAN MARKET CLASSES 



In order to obtain an adequate conception of the market- 

 ing of wool and accurately to interpret market conditions, 

 it is necessary to study the different grades and classes of 

 wool. The money value of a pound of wool depends on 

 the length, strength, and fineness of fiber; shrinkage 

 and condition ; color and character. 



Length and strength of fiber. 



The length and the strength of the fiber are associated 

 together for two reasons : first, the kind of yarn which 

 demands a long fiber also demands one of considerable 

 strength; second, fiber lacking in strength will break in 

 the process of combing, and the broken fibers must, 

 therefore, class with the shorter wools. On the basis of 

 length and strength, all wools are divided into two general 

 classes, known as combing and clothing wool. The comb- 

 ing class includes the longer wools that are manufactured 

 by the combing process into worsted yarns. The clothing 

 wools are the shorter ones that are manufactured without 

 combing into carded woolen yarns. In the process of 

 making worsted yarns the wool is combed and drawn out 

 in such a way as to make the fibers lie as nearly parallel 

 as possible; while in the manufacture of carded woolen 



