20 BULLETIN 206, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Navajo wool is very uneven. It comes to market untied, the low 
quarter-blood mixed with the fine grade. 
Dakotas, Kansas, and Nebraska. — The wool from the Dakotas, 
western Kansas, and Nebraska are sometimes included in the territory 
wools. They are really midway between the " bright" and the terri- 
tory in condition, having more sand and dirt than the bright but jiot 
as much as the territory. The term ^semibrights" is sometimes 
applied to them. 
Terms used in other market reports. — The reports of the St. Louis 
markets often refer to the shrinking qualities of the wool as light-fine, 
heavy-fine, etc. The amount of vegetable matter present is also indi- 
cated by burred, slightly burred, etc. Some other terms are also used 
that are usually self-explanatory. 
FOREIGN GRADES. 
Basis of foreign classification. — The quality of English and many 
other foreign wools is often designated by the counts or number of 
hanks per pound. The coarser wools are represented by the lower 
counts, as 18's, 24's, 36's, etc., and the finer ones as 64's, 70's, 80's, etc. 
These numbers or counts represent the hanks per pound of top to 
which the wool is supposedly capable of being spun, each hank 
representing 560 yards. Thus, wool of 50's quality should spin 
50 X 560 yards per pound of top, if spun to the limit. This classifica- 
tion is based on the worsted system of manufacture. 
Table 2. — Foreign wool classes and corresponding counts for American grade. 
American grades. 
Fine 
Half-blood 
Three-eighths blood 
Quarter-blood 
Low quarter-blood 
Low, coarse, common, or braid. 
Foreign classes — 
Counts often 
top-maker's 
spun to in 
quality. 
America. 
60's-70's 
50's-60's 
56's-60's 
40's 
50's-56's 
36's 
46's-50's 
32's 
40's-46's 
20's 
36'sh10's 
16's 
As a matter of fact the top-maker's quality does not actually repre- 
sent the counts to which the wool can be spun. The lower grades will 
not spin up to their number, while the finer ones will spin much higher 
than their designated numbers. Some fine American wools have been 
spun to 200 counts for exhibition purposes. Short wools will not 
spin as high as similar wools of greater length, hence this factor also 
influences the counts to which the wool will spin. 
Another fact worthy of mention is that the wools are rarely spun to 
their limit, that is, to as fine a yarn as is possible to spin. Wool can be 
spun several counts higher in England than it can in America. This 
is due to the fact that the air is moister there and that the labor of the 
