YORKSHIRE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 137, 27 February 1918, Page 10

YORKSHIRE LETTER

THE CASING OF ENGLISH WOOLS

(Prom• Our-. Special Correspondent.)

Bradford, January 3. , I want to-day to deal with a topic from Vhioh if the reader will tako the trouble to considor it lie will gain some informu- : Won whioh I am certain will ho of use to lim in his daily avooation of wool-grow-ing and handing of the shorn, fleece. It is well known-that there are'.all round M pure breeds of sheep in the United. Kingdom, while their orosses can be said to i be almost legion. This is due entirely to the methods of cross breeding employed by Brltishr-sheerr'iarmerßr'and this has certainly developed vory considerably throughout the United Kingdom during recent years. This no doubt is largely due to the rank and .file of sheepmen wanting toproduoe a .quick fattening sheep, for every, man knows that the 6ooner he can Bet his lambs'oß to the market the quicker and better his returns'.' I am also disposed to think that the majority of British sbeenmen have rather less breed in their flocks. everything to-day having to bend to £ s. d. Of course, no man is in husines* to-day for the fun of it. tho colonial pastoralists being just as keen to make their flocks a paying concern. No cne can object to this, for sheepmen the Avide world. oyer are engaged in an industry whereby they hope to be able to make bread urid butter, and also make provision for their old age. Here in Great Britain we have still something like 83.00 D.OOO sheep, and our flocks have been fairly stationary for the past 25 years. It is not; generally known, but for the size of the country nowhere <n the face of the globe are' so many shoep being pastured, and a word of praise is due to British farmers for keeping so many sheep. BJhey certainly have stood the nation in BOod stead during the past three years of war,-and but for-home-grown fleeco wool our 6pldibrs, would not.have.been provided with such comfortable and hard-wearing fabrics 8,8 they have.' '■■',- The' Government scheme. As eV'Sry reader knows, the Imperial ''Government first, laid its' hand upon the. British clip, commandeering )this in June, 1916. I am-telling no secret when we ■eay that the whole Bchemoofcwool control neither satisfies farmers nor pleases ,the trade. Of course, the men set apart working tho scheme have largely had (to feel their way into it, and after a good ;'deal of muddling the second clip under .State control is .now being handled, and, having lsirnt through practical experience certain lessons, the present season's clip is'going through with less friction than the last ■ one. • England has been divided Into thirteen areas. Scotland consists of one-ana* and so does Ireland. Anyone ,«an see that it would have been suicidal to have made England ono big area, because of the many varieties of wool which are being grown. There are many breeds of.sheep in Scotland, though the blackfaced largely predominates, and there be- ' ine many raoro breeds pastured in Ireland. How Wools are Cased. -'A British farmer -as a rule sells his Wip just as it comes off the sheep's back, (making no attempt at sorting, all that he 'does being to remove tV e heavy dirt Jumps, and after having done that the entire fleeco is rolled up, being fastened jby the neck of the fleece being twisted and ithen fastening round. The country stapler or Bradford merohant buys the wool in that condition, many firms having bought (the same farmers' "clips"! or anywhere from five to twenty-flvo yearß. As a rule it is bought according:.to what roprcseutsbulk, iha buyer making due allowance for grosses, casts, and any other off .-sorts. It is all right the Government fixing the letaadard for good Straight clips,, but Shore are- very few'indeed of that nature except where a stud flock is.kept. ; When *he authorised merchant purchases' a clip from an English fanner, his first business is to case it; that is. to divide it into Standard classes set up by tho Government. As every reader knows, wool is classed and cased according to standard, and wools in one area arc being grown (ranging all the -way from sfi's to 36's Quality. The reader can well see that the Jyork of the authorised merchant is no .light task when- he has. to case nnd'class "wools pouring-in-from.hundreds.of farm-, ers, and there are, .hundreds, -of i-mer-chants throughout, the trade. There areiio British farmors growing'wool on tho j large scale of-colonial pastoralists, there l ! lore, tho work is all"-the.more difficult Because of - the' smallness of the clips' mown-in this country. The business of' handling an-average farmer's clip is far wore difficult than that, of handling a Now Zealand crossbred clip. The English, (farmer has never yet been schooled in qualities. In this respect colonial pastoralistß have an advantage over their' English competitors, and it is to be hoped that they will still maintain interest in Both breeding sheep and classing their shorn-clips.

■■.< More Sheep, More Wool. forward policy inaugurated by tlio 'Philadelphia-": Wool Textile Association aneets ; with, tho hearty approval of every British, woolman. and the efforts .they are .making arc laudable to a degree. It has ■■?■. always been to woolm'en here a mystery why the United ;States, -with' iU vast country and its natural, resources, were Jiot pasturing "seventy-five million sheep, and this problem is not only worthy of '/the serious attention of the Agricultural 'Department at Washington, but tho day ■will oome'when the American House of njfipresentativea-and the Senate will have to tackle the Question in a very serious •way. Tho writor very much doubts if snfliicient wool is being grown in the XJuitert .'States to make each man a pair of trou. :Berß, and to' think' that a hundred million I'People aro to be clothed brings home in ia very forcible way thj importance of ''America doubling: her sheen stocks. Here !-ln Great Britain the number of fanners (tarrying 1000 sheen and .upwards is very *raall indeed, the bulk of farmers in England carrying from 20 to 259 sheep. If a iman pastures 500 sheep ho is looked udoh ,«» being in a fairly-big wav, and it is mot too. ranch" to--ask every linitro States ifarmer -to carry 300 «hteo. : providing he lias 250 acres of land. Throughout the .World sheen stocks have Been diminisWn? during the past twenty yenrs, and it, is /high timo American mills felt that thev' jjould depend more upon American pastures to supply tho wool which they require.