THE WOOLGROWER AND THE WOOL TRADE. 11 
duo to a cold wave following close shearing have also been reported. 
However, machine shearing does not necessarily mean close shearing, 
as thicker combs can be used and the fiber cut at a greater distance 
from the skin; but it does insure more uniformity. A great deal of 
the prejudice against machine shearing has been aroused by im- 
proper handling of the machines. 
PACKING WOOL. 
Packing lamb, ewe, and wether fleeces together militates against 
higher prices for wool. Lambs' wool is usually more valuable be- 
cause of lighter shrinking qualities and because of the fact that it 
will spin higher than wool from older sheep. Sewing the bags with 
sisal or other unsuitable twine also creates a bad impression in the 
mind of the buyer, as there is always the possibility of the sisal 
fiber getting into the wool and causing damage. Much wool is lost 
through the bursting of the bags. This is caused by the use of poor 
twine. A stronger twine used for sewing, such as Andover six-ply, 
is recommended for this purpose. Examples of poor packing are 
shown in Plate IV. 
Packing dead wool (wool from dead sheep) with good wool is also 
far too common. The dead wool is usually worth about half as much 
as the corresponding grade of good wool. Another feature in bad 
packing that should be discouraged is the tying of the fleeces to- 
gether. In many cases the two fleeces are not of the same grade 
and they must be separated by the grader before being assigned to 
any pile. 
Occasionally one hears of frauds being practiced by putting stones, 
etc., in the center of a fleece or sprinkling sand over the wool after it 
is shorn, but the actual cases of this kind are very rare. It is true 
that foreign materials have been found in wool sacks, varying from 
spectacles to oil stones, but such occurrences are more often due to 
accident than to intent to defraud. 
WOOL GRADING. 
Most American- grown wool is sacked just as the fleeces come from 
the sheep and sold at home to dealers. Before offering wool to the 
manufacturer the dealer makes up from his various purchases a num- 
ber of piles, each containing only fleeces of similar character and 
value. This work constitutes grading and should not be confused 
with the sorting done at the mill. In the dealer's warehouse the 
fleeces are not untied, but are graded on the basis of judgment of 
the fleece as a whole. (Plate V.) 
The grading itself is an art with which few American sheepmen 
arc familiar, yet it has many points of interest for them. Passing 
through the lofts and merely seeing the fleeces go over the grading 
