506 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTTCULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  9,  1904. 
The  Wool  Market. 
C)ne  of  the  most  cheering  phases  of  British  agriculture  at 
])resent  is  the  steady  and  persistent  rise  in  the  price  of  wool; 
and  we  have  no  doubt  that  politicians  (we  do  not  refer  to  states¬ 
men)  will  make  con.siderahle  capital  out  of  it,  as  agiicultuie 
■under  such  encouraging  circumstances  can  have  no  further  claims 
on  national  consideration.  If  wheat  rises  2s.  6d.  per  quarter, 
the  merchant  in  his  office  reading  the  newspaper  murmurs : 
“  Ah,  farmers  are  lucky  men!  ”  In  a  similar  way,  commercial 
men,  reading  that  wool  has  risen  in  price  from  14s.  per  tod  to 
22s.  in  two  years,  naturally  think  that  farmers  must  be  making 
fortunes.  What  are  the  facts  ? 
Within  our  own  experience,  we  have  weighed  out  wool  at 
7()s.  per  tod.  Agricultural  wages  were  then  at  the  same  value 
they  are  now,  and  we  could  buy  a  good  suit  of  clothes  at  about 
the  same  price  we  now  pay  for  one.  Farmers  did  not  grumble 
at  paying  a  good  price  for  a  suit  of  clothes  wdien  they  were 
making  high  prices  of  their  wool,  but  they  object  to  paying  the 
same  price  for  the  suit  when  the  price  of  the  raw  material  is  so 
much  less.  One  ofd;he  great  cries  just  now  is:  “  Oh,  you  may 
tax  some  things  if  you  like,  but  on  no  account  must  you  tax  the 
raw  material.”  Well,  British  wool  may  be  raw  material  in 
the  same  sense  as  Argentine  is,  but  we  doubt  it,  for  neither  are 
natural  products.  Both  require  a  certain  amount  of  labour  in 
their  production  ;  but  the  British  wool  has  heavy  local  taxation 
to  pay  for,  which  the  Argentine  knows  nothing  about. 
We  are  informed  that  wool  imported  into  the  United  States 
has  to  pay  duty  in  proportion  to  the  position  it  has  advanced 
to  in  the  process  of  manufacture.  The  lowest  rates  of  duty  are 
on  very  dirty  and  greasy  wool.  As  soon  as  wool  assumes  the 
air  of  the  manufactured  article,  and  represents  an  appreciable 
amount  of  British  labour,  up  goes  the  import  tax  in  the 
States.  This  is  quite  as  much  a  question  for  the  wool  manu¬ 
facturer  as  for  the  farmer.  We  have  known,  and  still  know, 
many  farmers  who  are  careless  about  washing  their  sheep.  As 
Jong  as  the  sheep  have  been  through  the  bath,  all  must  be  well. 
Annual  disputes  with  the  wool  buyer  have  little  effect  on  these 
farmers,  who  .still  continue  to  dip  their  sheep  in  cold  water,  and 
say  they  have  been  washed. 
Now,  we  have  for  years  advocated  the  tub-washing  of  sheep, 
which  means  the  use  of  fairly  warm  water  and  a  considerable 
•expense  in  softsoap.  The  effect  was  a  beautifully  clean  and 
bright  wool,  and  at  one  time  we  have  little  doubt  that  the  price 
•obtained  amply,  and  many  times,  over,  paid  for  the  extra  cost 
of  the  washing  operation. 
When,  however,  we  are  told  that  there  is  no  trade  at  Brad¬ 
ford,  that  the  chief  outlet  for  wool  is  to  the  United  States,  that 
the  import  duty  for  dirty  wool  is  proportionately  very  small, 
and  that  Bradford  merchants  are  opening  establishments  out 
there  for  the  purpose  of  scouring  wool  of  their  own  importing, 
which  might  have  l)een  cleaned  on  this  .side,  it  seems  to  be  very 
evident  that  we  farmers  may  be  spending  time  and  softsoap  for 
very  little  purpose. 
It  is  always  pleasanter  to  offer  an  article  for  sale  in  the  best 
of  condition ;  and  clean  washing  and  careful  winding  of  the 
fleeces  often  make  the  sale  of  a  clip  of  wool  a  very  pleasing 
experience.  The  buyer,  whether  .stapler  or  manufacturer,  is  all 
smile ;  tlie  cheque  is  prmnptly  drawm,  and  as  promiAly  honoured, 
and  we  think  that  we  have  done  well.  But  as  matters  stand 
now,  we  might  almost  save  the  labour  and  expense  of  washing, 
and  still  make  the  same  price  per  tod,  for  a  large  abatement  of 
taiiff  on  coarse  and  uncleaned  farmers’  wool  might  easily  more 
than  account  for  recent  neglect  and  pre.sent  activity  on  the  part 
of  buyers. 
Throughout  a  long  experience,  we  never  saw  the  wool  stanler 
going  his  rounds  in  May,  as  we  have  seen  him  this  year  ;  and  it 
must  be  a  very  healthy  sign.  He  would  hardly  think  it  worth 
while  to  come  before  clipping  is  finished  if  he  were  not  anxious 
to  extend  his  operations  by  obtaining  offers  from  new  clients. 
It  is  not  ea.sy  to  ascertain  exactly  the  present  value,  but  we 
imagine  a  good  clip  is  worth  22s.  Gd.,  and  might  make  a  little 
more.  There  will  be  no  harm  done  by  asking  for  a  good  price  to 
start  with,  as  we  can  always  come  down,  and  it  is  very  annoying 
to  find,  when  we  have  got  all  we  asked  for,  that  we  might  have 
had  more  if  we  had  been  bolder.  Certainly  farmers  cannot 
afford  to  throw  away  any  chances. 
Since  the  provision  trade  has  been  prevented  from  usinsr  the 
word  butter  in  any  form  to  describe  butter  substitutes,  we  think 
the  principle  might  be' extended  to  prevent  the  use  of  the  word 
flannelette  to  describe  an  article  ma’de  of  cotton.  The  extended 
sale  and  u.se  of  that  dangerous  material  might  have  been  as 
great  under  another  name,  but  the  name  must  have  been  very 
misleading  to  the  public,  and  we  do  not  doubt  that  thousands 
of  people  who  use  it  to-day  are  under  the  impression  that  it 
contains  wool.  The  word  really  means  “little  flannel,”  and  is 
descriptive  enough,  but  not  sufficiently  so  to  tne  uneducated. 
How  far  removed  this  material  is  from  the  woollen  material  w'hich 
it  substitutes  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  a  flannel  shirt  may  be 
used  to  extinguish  fire,  whilst  a  flannelette  one  is  dangerously 
inflammable.  It  is  outside  our  present  sphere  to  enter  fully 
into  the  public  danger  caused  by  the  use  of  this  material  which 
might  fully  justify  prohibition  of  its  wear,  at  .any  rate  by 
children;  but  we  think  there  is  just  cause  why  it  should  not  be 
known  by  a  name  which  in  the  public  mind  has  always  been 
associated  with  an  entirely  different  material. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
Although  we  have  X'ecently  heard  farmers  declare  that  they 
needed  no  more  rain  until  midsummer,  we  doubt  if  the  rain  of 
the  iiast  week  has  been  unwelcome  to  many.  It  has  brought 
colder  weather  with  it,  and  there  have  been  very  few  hours  of 
sunshine ;  but  the  rain  has  fallen  so  gently  and  persistently  that 
a  very  great  change  has  been  wrought  on  all  growing  crops. 
There  is  now  no  doubt  as  to  the  clover  and  hay  crop,  for  no 
amount  of  drought  can  materially  affect  it,  and  we  expect  to  see 
a  bumper  return.  This  would  have  been  more  satisfactory  had 
there  been  no  old  supplies,  but  we  fear  that  there  are  too  many 
old  hayricks  yet  unsold  to  offer  much  prospect  of  any  immediate 
competition  for  this  season’s  crops. 
Wheat,  barley,  and  oats  all  present  an  improved  appearance, 
but  we  notice  many  beans  are  very  short  in  the  straw  ;  they  are 
well  podded,  but  short  of  haulm.  The  iiods  are  in  many  cases 
very  near  to  the  ground,  and  the  beans  should  be  either  pulled 
by  hand  or  mown  with  a  scythe.  The  binder  is  very  convenient, 
but  may  leave  too  many  jjods  unharvested. 
There  is  yet  a  great  deal  of  weeding  to  be  done  amongst 
corn  crops.  The  acreage  of  wheat  having  been  small,  the  neces¬ 
sary  looking  for  thistles  was  quickly  finished  ;  but  there  is  an 
unusual  amount  of  v'ork  yet  to  be  done  amongst  barley  and 
oats.  The  thistles  of  different  varieties  must  be  scotched,  and 
docks  or  similar  weeds  dealt  with,  if  we  are  not  to  have  millions 
more  in  the  future.  Fortunately,  the  crops  are  full  of  “  plant,” 
and  will  bear  a  little  thinning  in  the  process  of  weed  destruction. 
Rain  has  Stopped  swede  sowing,  and  we  .shall  put  in  a  fair 
breadth  of  common  turnips  before  drilling  more  swedes,  which 
will  be  of  the  bronze  top  variety,  and  intended  for  spring  feeding 
of  sheep  on  the  land.  Mangolds  are  growing  nicely,  but  not  so 
quickly  as  the  weeds,  and  our  remarks  of  last  week  as  to  side 
hoeing  are  even  more  necessary  now.  A  top-dressing  of  nitrate 
of  soda  is  very  valuable  to  mangolds  in  second  leaf.  It  brings 
them  quickly  to  the  hoe,  and  the  big  mangold  on  July  1  is  always 
a  big,  if  not  tlie  bigge.st,  mangold  on  Noveniber  1.  As  soon  as 
the  side  hoeing  is  done,  keep  the  hoi'se  hoe  going  between  the 
rows.  The  roots  cannot  have  too  much  air. 
Mangolds  are  now  showing  w'ell  in  rows,  and  they  will  soon 
be  ready  for  side  hoeing.  Young  mangolds  will  not  grow  if 
they  are  choked  with  weeds,  and  good  mangold  land  is  usually 
infested  with  them. 
Fruit  orchards  are  very  promising.  Plums  have  set  well, 
but  are  not  so  promising  as  apples  and  pears,  both  of  which  at 
present  promise  record  crops.  Plums  will  be  better  than  in 
1901,  1902,  and  1903,  but  not  so  good  as  in  1900. 
Beef  is  a  little  better  to  sell,  but  mutton  has  been  a  little 
overdone  in  this  week’s  markets,  and  prices  are  a  little  easier. 
We  are  clipping  the  ewes,  and  they  strip  well,  being  nearly  all 
in  good  condition.  They  are  young,  and  have  been  well  kept. 
An  ewe  requires  good  food  and  a  full  set  of  teeth  to  rear  a 
pair  of  lambs,  and  look  well  herself.  The  next  thing  will  be 
dipping  in  about  a  month’s  time. 
