154 
Sheep Washing. 
gradual change has taken place, and now, however well the farmer 
washes the wool on the sheep’s back, the comber and spinner have to 
scour it again before they can spin and manufacture it. It is im- 
material to the top-maker and spinner whether they buy the wool 
washed or in the grease, but most of them buy it to-day in the un- 
washed state. 
Last year there was imported into this country from our colonies 
and from foreign countries 763 , 000,000 lb, of wool, representing the 
produce of nearly 200 , 000,000 sheep. Of this quantity not more 
than 5 per cent, would be clipped in the washed state ; from which 
it is evident that the farmers abroad do not think it advantageous to 
wash their sheep. Even in our great wool-growing colonies of Aus- 
tralasia and South Africa a very decided change has taken place in 
recent years. Thus, of the sheep of these colonies : — 
In the year 1869 about 30 per cent, were shorn unwashed. 
„ 1879 „ 45 „ 
» 1«87 „ 80 „ 
,, 1892 „ 98 „ „ „ 
In the wool-growing countries of Russia, South America, North 
America, Persia, and India all the sheep are shorn in the unwashed 
state. 
The important point for the British farmer to consider is the 
question of pay, or result. Does it pay him better to have his wool 
sold washed or greasy 1 Can he find as ready a market for his 
greasy wool 1 The obvious answer would seem to be afforded by the 
experience of other countries, where fiockmasters do not wash their 
sheep, but still find a ready market for their clips. My experience, 
as a wool salesman and broker for upwards of thirty years, is 
that the unwashed British wool finds a readier market to-day than 
the washed wool. I have before me the views of several North- 
country farmers who have carefully tested the matter, and in every 
case except one the result to the grower has been advantageous. 
The one exceptional case was that of the Rev. H. Fox, of St. 
Bees, who wrote in 1889 : — 
There was much controversy last year about wool, whether it should he 
washed or not. 
It happened that I was unable to wash my sheep owing to the pollution 
of the stream in which I have been accustomed to wash them by the influx 
of water from some newly opened iron mines, so with the exception of a few 
fleeces — about twenty — which were washed in a tub, my wool was sent 
to your place to be sold unwashed. 
I was so dissatisfied with the result that I wrote a letter to the local 
papers, giving the result of my experience, and strongly advising farmers to 
wash their sheep before shearing them. I send you the account, from which 
you will see that a small quantity of wool fetched 10^<f. per lb. This I take 
to be the washed wool. 
It is described as prime hog, but much of it was from the backs of the 
same description of sheep as the bulk of my flock. The unwashed wool was 
very clean, there was no dirt in it except the sap, and I cannot, think that 
weight of the sap compensated me for the lower price it fetched, some of it 
only 7 \d. per lb. 
