WOOL-WASHING.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 1165, 28 June 1870, Page 3

WOOL-WASHING.

We {Lyttelton Times) are indebted to Mr. George Gould for a copy of the following letter, addressed by Messrs. Jacomb, Son, & Co., to Messrs. Redfern, Alexander, & Co. It is dated London, April 20 : — In reference to our previous report respecting warm-water washing, we can only confirm what we then advised. Enquiries among the chief users of these wools confirm all we have said, and the drawbacks we anticipated from the overwashing have been more than realised in the process of manufacture. Judging from the greater care exercised in the washing of some of the Porfc Phillip flocks, the great objection of extreme dryness has been obviated, the wool handling softer, and more nature having been left in the wool. There can be little doubt that if the two chief features of washing, viz., softness and elasticity of staple, can be realised, warm-water washing will" be more duly appreciated; bufc the feeling of buyers still seems for the ordinary wash if carefully done with soft soap, and the yolk allowed to rise sufficiently to impart softness, and great care being taken thafc the fleece is nofc made clammy or tinged with a yellowish appearance from carelessness in the penning of the sheep. Every manufacturer prefers, as a rule, to scour his own wool, and according to tho particular class of goods he makes so his scouring is regulated. The importance of this to a consumer will be self-evident. " Spout-washing," which has been used to some extent in Sydney, Queensland, &c., gives to the fleece brightness, but takes all the nature oufc if nofc most carefully executed ; and although the wool looks showy, every imperfection of moat and seed is more strongly shewn. With the fine-haired, short-stapled wools for clofchs, softness is a most important feature ; otherwise, the cloth never wears- a good soft face, and manufacturers of fine blaok and superior mixture avoid buying wool with these drawbacks at any price. Probably, these explanations may suffice for your correspondents and shew them the extreme nicety of buyers now that colonial wood has almost superseded other descriptions in the manufacture of the best goods. We avail ourselves of this opportunity to repeat our wish that tho classing of wool is nofc made too elaborate, and that the fleeces are nofc made bitter from being so much sorted. As a rule, in even flocks the hoggett, ewes, and wethers will make three good classes, and of courso, the longer grown fleeces of each quality will be kept separate. With regard to the Australian wool trade we read in one of the trade circulars: — " The clip from Victoria has been in average condition, showing, so far as the bulk of medium and good wools is concerned, neither progress nor deterioration. In the very best brands only is a change observable, and thafc is decidedly for the worse. They have, with few exceptions, grown wilder, rougher, aud more irregular, and have above all lost much of that fineness which alone, in its combination with length and strength, imparts to a wool.an exceplional valuo. The superfine Victoria wools have decidedly gone back, as on a comparison of tho samples of- the 1868-9 and 1867-8 clip every unprejudiced eye will clearly perceive ; and it is perhaps nofc too much to say that had we had in 1569 wools as fine and perfect as iv 1868, such parcels would, by reason, of their excellence, have remained independent of the market fluctuations, and have realised nearly tho old high rates even at the most depressed of times. There is another kind of Victorian wool about which a remark may be made ; cross-bred descriptions are now produced on some stations in rare perfection. They aro of rigorous, shafty growth; have a certain lustre, and a quality the mean between a Leicester and a merino fineness, and they present an appearance so perfectly even in every respect that ono would hardly believe them to bo the produce of a cross breed. Such wools are as valuable as they are rare ; no other country produces them in anything like this excellence ; and even in Victoria and Netv Zealand the instances where tho cross has been carried out with full success are comparatively few. But so large has the production of merino wool nowgrown that farmers will do well more assiduously to cultivate this cross breed wherever a rich pasture favours it, or where a cold climate prevents tho pure merino fibre from attaining to a really high degree of fineness. New Zealand seems tlie country most adapted to produce this class of wool, and some excellent parcels have been received from that colony, but tlie great mass of New Zealand cross-bred flocks are very common and irregular stuff, ill got up, and showing no signs of a uniformly continued system of breeding. Both in Victoria and New Zealand the practice of spoufcvvashing has greatly increased, and in many cases with fair results ; bufc growers should take care, in their desire to turn out their wools in first-rate condition, nofc to go too far. A wool may be over-washed; its fibre may be injured and rendered harsh and hollow. This is frequently the case where tho available water is hard, and soda has to be employed. It is hardly necessary to point out tliat to wash wool in this way cannot benefit either the grower or consumer, the former getting light weight, the latter a rough, harsh article."