THE IMPROVEMENT OF WOOLS.

Press, Volume XII, Issue 1544, 18 October 1867, Page 2

THE IMPROVEMENT OF WOOLS.

[From the "Australasian."] Having been asked many questions lately about the scouring and getting up of pi, we pioeeed to (to* .once again the mode adopted, by those of our sheepowners who now obtain the highest prices. The new method is so simple, that a repetition would appear to be unnecessary ; but all sheepowners are not even acquainted with the old mode of washing with spouts, and it is not to be expected that one description of a process in advance of that would carry conviction to the minds of men who have yet so much still to learn of a most important branch of their .business. However, the spirit of inquiry is now abroad, thanks to the high prices invariably obtained for. some of our clips ; and, seeing the great room there is for improvement, those few of our readers who understand the process will not object to a little repetition for the information of the many who do not. . For some years past the bright silky, character w of some, of. our best wools has been becoming more and more apparent, but it was not until the Miessrs dimming risked the use of an unusually large proportion of soap and soda in the soaking-pen that these qualities were fully developed in the wool as sent home from here. Sheep have been sprinkled with '- warm water when standing in the yards, and have been soaked in warm water with a little soap in it before being passed under the spouta, and some wool was thus got up very well in the different colonies; but soda was thought too dangerous a material for the sheepowners to use in any but the smallest quantities until the experiment was tried at Mount Eyansi when it was proved that a large proportion might be used not only with safety but with very great advantage. This discovery at once set at rest the differences of opinion about the construction of sheep washes, whether they should be planned for the sheep to have long or short . swims, to be soaked sin warm water, t or merely sprinkled with this half an hour before being washed, or on the many minor points concerning which no half dozen settlers' could be got to agree, because none of them were exactly right. The plentiful use of soap and soda proved, however, that all complications were not only useless but absolutely injurious, and that the more simple was the plan of the wash, and the more quickly the sheep were put through it, the brighter the wool came out. The chief elements of the system of washing are to allow one hundredweight of soap, and the same quantity of soda, with warm water in j the Boaking-pen, to every thousand, sheep ; to keep the cheep in this until the grease apd tips are quite soft, and then to pass them at once under the spouts, the water from which quickly dashes all the dirt off, and leaves the wool perfectly clean, without the sheep having been kept long enough in the cold water to be chilled.

However, to describe this more in detail, the washing-place must be so arranged as to have a eoaking-pen to hold . abtrut twelve cheep at a time, where there are two spoute. The advantage of a email pen for this

purpose is that the water may b* frequently changed, as it has L n ° found that the sheep first put throi ,J while the water „ clean are tho n≤ quickly washed under the spouts T come out the whitest. The water in the soaking pen must be kent S about 110 degrees, and to every i Oo gallons from lib. to ip>. of soap and soda, must be added it larger quantity when the water'i. 5 all hard and the smaller when ii soft. Even more soda may bo when the water is venr hard and It allowance of both must of™ft dissolved before any sheep are thrown ,n;^, A «ft tten i 8 Placed acros * tie middle of the pen, so aa to keep each lot of sis separate, and a 'lfi extra soap is rubbed on X hand to quicken the removal If the tips when these are hJi Moderately dirty sheep have T be kept from three to four minute* in soak, when they are allowed to wait out on the dripping-stage, and stand there until they go under the spoS, their turn coming before they W time to dry or become cold, the lots in the soaking pen being 80 6lnal] a Under the spout there is a pen fuJi Jj cold water, as the dirt is washed oJ more thoroughly if the sheep a i swimming when placed under tho fa» from these. Thus the plan of th wash must be simple and compact in the extreme, consisting of the soaking pen, a small draining-stage, with an incline out of the soaking-pen at one side, aud a couple of shoots down tie other into the swimming-pen under the spouts, which of course, with the water to supply them, giving them a fall of four feet, form a very important portion of the washing-place. %* necessary drafting and catching yards and boilers to warm the water, are indispensable adjuncts, and may be costly or otherwise; but the plan of the actual washing place muafe be simple, with the soaking-pen and the spouts close together, and only a short swim through clear water away from the latter, or the sheep may go on to the battens at once from the hands of the men who hold them under the epouts.

Such is the new process of waahirig, and by it wool can be got up in the best possible condition for the home market, and with the greatest certainty. It can be rendered as wlute as if it had been scoured either by hand or machine after shearing, and wool so washed on the aheepa' backs fetches Is. a pound more than the best scoured wool. The reason for this is obvious. Scoured wool ia so tangled, and the locks and fibres so matted together, that accurate after-sorting when it comes into the handa of .the manufacturer is impossible; but whole fleeces can be divided lock from lock with the greatest nicety, arid the fibres are not in the least tangled or felfed so as to break under and impede tie action of the combs. With scoured wool there is great waste in thecomfe. ing, and it cannot be so sorted ag to be applicable for the finest classes of goods. This new process of, infwf, scouring the wool on the sheeps' ft will do much to promote tba ;ia». and of course the sale of, the com Ding wools of AnMi| ii it cornea to be more generally followed. And that flockowners have much to gain by adopting it we need only, recount a few of its advantages to prove. The wool, as compared with ordinary or brook-washed wool, only loses about 20 per cent, in weight, or a fifth, while its value is increased by at least onehalf. The sheep are.so short a time in the water that the oldest rame and weakest ewes can be washed vfitih. safety, and 'the sheep being"' ti§fik chilled, the wool is soft and mallow jta the touch, even if shorn off'immediately, and without the yoke having had time to rise in it.'. Irl fac6, -bjKtße quick Iwarm-water process, the" oil Iβ never removed from the centre fiube d the wool, as it is by the contraction of the fibre during a long chill, so ..tnftfr-iro harshness can ensue. On this afecoiiiit the difference in the feel-of wool scoured on and off * the sheep is very marked, and every one knows how much the buyer is Jpncted by the handling o£ samples submitted to him, Yeiy many, ejen when they become acquainted with the.eyeUjnV are alarmed at the expense of the |am and other works needful for the wijfj of spouts, but no additional ■grofifc wfo be obtained in sheep, or any otefa ll " of farming, without a judicious -.{HmiXof capital ; and where the natural features of the country are not adapted for reservoirs, or the rainfall is unc^J , tain, there is the centrifugal pu.Bipaß'j steam-engine to fall back upon, && these will, in many cases, be fou&a more economical and certain thanta* 61 ". works. After the woolshed, a wauhfflg" place adapted to the new system stoma be deemed thei chief requisite ofl every station, and there is. no ontfojjb® will give such a return. " lt& regard to spouts of batteries there was formerly some reason for heaitatKWi for with these alone there less of failure in. gaining the desired object; but with suap and sodft> m. addition, there can be none, noti.-- 1 " 1 * 5 the , use of theih is so well uhderatof. If scouring the 7 wool after sbeaftpg would suffice to get it into condition for the spinners, we wouia advocate the formation of every port, so that not a pound Pi dirty wool should be allowed to leave..tw country; but it rests with the sbeep" owners themselves to improve aaa uphold the general character of o» r combing wools, and unfortunately they are slow in adopting anything even though the profit may promise w be great.