2 BULLETIN 206, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 
American wools net the grower from 1 to 3 cents a pound less than 
their actual value. This is due to the failure to classify the wool 
before selling and to defects from the use of improper twine, brand- 
ing paints, and other minor causes. 
The undesirable features which manufacturers have come to look 
for in American wools constitute a fixed charge which is borne by the 
producer. There seems to be little doubt that most of the work 
necessary to place American wools upon a parity with imported wools 
in our markets can best be done at the time of shearing. 
Prevailing methods of selling do little to acquaint the grower with 
the manufacturers' complaints in regard to his output. In the range 
States where the clips are large the individual grower may establish 
for his wool a reputation that will enhance its selling price. To 
establish fully and realize the benefit of improved methods some form 
of cooperative effort is necessary. Especially is this true with farm 
wools where the single clip is small, and ordinarily passes through the 
hands of a number of uninformed dealers or local buyers and reaches 
the manufacturers only as part of an offering made up from a large 
number of clips, varying widely as to quality and care in preparation. 
PRESENT METHODS OF DISPOSING OF WOOL BY THE GROWERS. 
Western wools. — In the range States sheep are shorn either in sheds 
located on the premises of the sheep owner or at plants owned by 
individuals who employ shearers, fleece tiers, and sackers, and shear 
sheep from various owners at an agreed charge which includes all 
labor and material necessary to deliver the wool in sacks to its owner. 
Each individual owner attends to the selling of his own wool. In a 
few cases manufacturers send their buyers out to purchase wool 
direct from the growers, but the most of the clips are sold to buyers 
representing eastern dealers. There is no public market or wool 
exchange in this country. All transactions in the field or at the 
points where wool is concentrated by the dealers to be resold to manu- 
facturers are made privately. The newspapers and trade and agri- 
cultural papers, upon which the grower must depend for information 
as to the value of his clip, base their reports of the wool market upon 
such facts as can be gathered from buyers or sellers at the main wool- 
selling centers, which are Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, 
and St. Louis. In some seasons wool is contracted for before shearing. 
If unwilling to sell at the price offered at home the wool grower 
may consign his wool to a commission house and take chances upon 
the market falling or rising. Many concerns will either buy wool 
on speculation or accept it to be sold on commission. In neither 
case do the wool grower and the maufacturer come in contact with 
each other, and the former understands the defects of his wool and 
