A WOOL SECRET.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 305, 18 September 1908, Page 5

A WOOL SECRET.

MR.' WHATMAN'S RECORD PRICE. The fact that Mr. A. 'P. 'Whatman, the well-known' " Abbotsford " sheep farmer, received. something,, oyer lid. 'per lb. for his wool clip has been the cause of much conversation among his less fortunate brethren in different portions of, the country. Among a party/ of farmers, in the train tho other day (writes our Wairarapa correspondent) tho prevailing topic of the wool market gradually drifted till it reached Mr. Whatman's flock, the merits of which were then discussed at length from a wool-producing point of view. None of the speakers were' prepared to admit that there was any. great superiority in Mr. Whatman's flock, or wool, compared with their own, and none thought that a much better staple was procured through not shearing the lambs. Eventually it was iagreed that Mr. Whatman must havo washed his sheep in tho wool in a crcek just prior to shearing, ono farmer adding that ho had noticed that the particular return stated that the wool. was rather light. Notwithstanding this opinion, each of tho farmers declared that he intended to obtain from Mr. Whatman the secret process by which ho was enabled to command a record prico for wool in a poor season.