THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



91 



the miserable recompense received by the 

 wool growers is in the arts resorted to by wool 

 buyers, factory-men, and their agents, (the 

 "wool sharks,") for the manufacture of low 

 prices. In the able report read by Mr. John 

 Brown to the Convention, it is said that one 

 of their most common plans is to get several 

 leading proprietors to sell their wool at a cer- 

 tain inadequate price by giving them twenty 

 times its worth for some other thing. Men 

 are like sheep; and when one prominent man 

 has sold his fleeces for a low price, all the 

 neighborhood follow like their own flocks after 

 the bell wether. And whenever these people 

 get any one, either through ignorance, bribery, 

 or pecuniary necessity to sell at a sacrifice, 

 they take care to have the sale trumpeted 

 through the press, in order to let persons who 

 demand the value of their wool see how en- 

 tirely above the market they are. Being par- 

 ticularly conscientious, too, about giving their 

 full merit to all these parcels of wool in such 

 publications, this machine, says the report, 

 "works well." 



In the beginning of every season they en- 

 deavor to get up a great many reports, and a 

 great deal of correspondence backward and 

 forwards about the probable range of prices 

 for the coming clip; "in order that by telling 

 what one has said and another has written, to 

 get the talk started on the flat key, and in that 

 way not to break ground too high. For this 

 most happy expression, (breaking ground,) we 

 are wholly indebted to the manufacturers. — 

 This is the great engine in use principally at 

 head quarters or Boston." By the time that 

 these reports get pretty well diffused among 

 the farmers and the expectation of a low sea- 

 son sufficiently established, they send out some 

 'cute agents, who are then able to get enough 

 sacrifices to put the market in a safe state for 

 the remainder of the season. 



But another cause to which our want of a 

 good wool market is very justly attributed, is 

 the slovenly and disgraceful manner in which 

 most of our farmers wash and prepare their 

 wool. If it was neatly and cleanly put up, 

 we would have foreigners in the market, and 

 not be left at the mercy of companies at home. 

 But how can the best wool be expected to sell 



when it wears the shabby and dirty appear- 

 ance which most of ours does? The follow- 

 ing remarks are so sensible and so much to 

 the point that we will give them entire: 



The best mode of preparing: wool for 

 market, is as follows : Before washing-, 

 remove carefully with the shears all locks 

 containing dung in a hardened state ; then 

 wet the sheep in every part, and let them 

 stand crowded together for an hour or 

 two. They should be taken out of the 

 water, when first put in for wetting, as 

 quickly as may be after the wool is fairly 

 wet in order to retain a soapy substance 

 the wool contains, which acts upon the 

 dirt and gum in the wool, while sheep 

 stand together before washing. This 

 soapy substance is the first thing to es- 

 cape, as washing is commonly done. — 

 The best mode of washing is to use a 

 fall of three feet or over, turning the sheep 

 in different ways under the fall, till the 

 action of the water brings every part of 

 the fleece to an almost snowy whiteness, 

 A much less fall will answer well if the 

 sheet of water is eight or ten inches deep. 

 If the water under the fall is not deep 

 enough to remain clear while the sheep 

 are in, a plank bottom should be provided 

 to prevent any sand or earthy substance 

 from getting into the wool by stirring up 

 the water. A clean rock bottom is just 

 as good. Where a fall cannot be had, a 

 clear running stream should be found, and 

 the dirt worked perfectly from all parts of 

 the fleece, with the hands, after first soak- 

 ing the sheep as before. To wash sheep 

 immediately after a soaking rain, will an- 

 swer very well instead of wetting as 

 above. The sheep when washed, should 

 be driven to a clean grassy field, free from 

 bare spots of earth, avoiding muddy or 

 dusty roads after washing. The shearing 

 should be done as soon after washing as 

 the wool is dry, which will be in two or 

 three days. When confined for shearing, 

 the flock should be kept well littered, and 

 the floors or tables, or whatever place 

 they may be sheared upon, should be 

 kept thoroughly cleaned. The fleeces 

 must be kept whole by the shearers, or 

 they (the shearers) are wholly unfit for 



