THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



their business. After the fleeces are taken 

 off, they should be placed on a smooth, 

 clean floor or table, with the outer ends 

 upward, and be carefully examined all 

 over by patting with the hands to find 

 every bur, which should be taken out 

 without fail. The fleece should then be 

 rolled up snugly, and tied with a small 

 twine. If farmers would not suffer a 

 bur-bearing plant to live in their sight, it 

 would be vastly better, and would cost 

 but little yearly. Of this we speak from 

 experience. A disregard of these little 

 things, the whole cost of which is but a 

 trifle in addition to the ordinary expense 

 of putting up wool, is the greatest hin- 

 drance to the sale of American wools in 

 England or France, and our farmers have 

 generally no idea of the injury they suffer 

 by a neglect of these matters, and the 

 shameful, dishonest practice of tying up 

 their fleeces with ten and even twenty 

 feet of small rope, or with strips of bark 

 two or three inches wide, instead of two 

 or three feet of small twine — wrapping 

 up coarse and nnwashen wool inside of 

 some of the finest fleeces, putting in dung- 

 balls, dirty sweepings of barn floors, doing 

 up their fleeces wet, &c , so that they of- 

 ten mould. The laws of England are 

 said to make such things a penal offence. 

 Would our farmers put their wool in such 

 a condition yearly as some now do, and 

 as a good farmer would be proud of doing 

 with his wheatj pork, butter, &c, we 

 should soon have enough of English and 

 French competitors in our wool market, 

 which would do much more for the trade 

 than any protective measures we can ever 

 hope for. Our slovenly, dishonest habits, 

 deprive us of foreign competition, and 

 leave us entirely at the mercy of our large 

 manufacturing companies, "bodies with- 

 out souls." The qualities of American 

 wool are such as to overcome, in some 

 small measure all the disadvantages un- 

 der which they must be sold in a foreign 

 market, and for want of reputation small 

 shipments of American wool, have been 

 made the past season, with a small profit 

 to the shipper. Every pound that we 

 can export, not only brings so much mo- 

 ney into the country, but improves the 



market at home. Some very judicious 

 wool dealers recommend keeping out of 

 the fleeces, the fribs or small scattering 

 locks, but we are on the whole disposed 

 to advise, that all clean locks or fribs be 

 put within the fleece to which they pro- 

 perly belong — it appearing to us to be 

 more properly the business of the wool 

 sorter or grader, to separate them from the 

 fleeces than of the farmer, who in many 

 instances, is under no advantages for using 

 them, or of disposing of them for their 

 value. We do not think the remarks of 

 English wool brokers in reference to fribs 

 are applicable to farmers. At any rate, 

 this has been our uniform practice, and 

 we have yet to hear the first word of 

 complaint about the condition of our wool, 

 | in this particular, either in this country or 

 j England. The wool put up in first rate 

 ! order, and stored away in a clean, secure 

 place, the next thing is for the holder to 

 become informed in regard to its value. 

 This he may generally do through some 

 disinterested source if he will not be in 

 too great a hurry, which, by the way, is 

 all wrong, as the throwing off such an 

 immense quantity upon the market at 

 once, has the most certain effect to reduce 

 the price, since money is not to be had to 

 j buy all the wools of the country at once, 

 unless they are sold so low as to give the 

 profits of the business to others than the 

 growers. If the wool is to be sold at 

 home the grower need have no anxiety 

 about losing a sale, by letting it lie awhile, 

 or by letting w T ool buyers go away two 

 or three times without it. 



To remedy the grievances complained of, 

 the Convention of Wool Growers propose a 

 scheme, concerning the feasibility of which 

 we do not feel altogether decided. It is to es- 

 tablish a wool depot, by means of which the 

 growers may avoid the necessity of pressing 

 their wool into market when it is glutted, and 

 where it may be preserved until the manufac- 

 turers at home are willing to pay a proper 

 price, or until purchasers from abroad can 

 reach it. But as the farmers wish generally 

 to obtain immediate supplies of money, cash 

 advances for their wool, it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to have a large permanent fund at the 



