TERMS OF THE WOOL TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15769, 18 November 1914, Page 11

TERMS OF THE WOOL TRADE.

. Since tho prospect of a " boom" in wool brought the cabled reports of the London sales out of tho comparative obscurity of trio commercial columns into the prominence of the war news pages, many unfamiliar terms have been introduced to the notice of newspaper readers. Though wool is one of the main supports of our national prosperity, few people are acquainted with the meanings of terms which are commonly used by growers and buyers of tho Dominion's clips, though an understanding of these terms is necessary i before one can interpret the market reports. Evervone knows that for convenience of handling raw wool is packed in bales, but does everyone know that a bale of wool weighs about 3501b and that a package of wool too largo to be called a sack, but under 2001b in weight, is called a badge? The buyer pays for only the net weight of wool, less " draft," which is an allowance of lib in every hundredweight I of wool, and the allowance made for tho | weight of the woolpack is known as the j " tare." After tho various cleansing proI resM-s wool is combed in readiness for j spinning, and by this operation is separi at "1 into "top" and "noil," the latter I tuiiiii; the short, curly and irregular fibres. } The long fibres, which comprise the top, j an straightened and laid parallel by the j nth in 4. Bradford tops" are the ! standard for woo] prepared for manufac- ! Hire and vary in quality from 28's to 100's. i he figures are a measure of the quality of the combed wool, for they indicate the number of hanks of yarn which can bo spun from lib of wool. Thus "70's" means that lib of wool of this quality will produo 70 banks of yarn, each 550 yds in length. In some cases even finer quality tops than 100's have been sorted from -peeial 1..!.; of wool, such as a Merino wool grown near Ballarat by the late Sir I Sininel Wilson, which was so fine that it I would spin 160's, or over five miles of urn from a pound of wool. Several other terms peculiar to the wool trade are frequently used in tho market reports. Burrs, seeds, and other vegetable matter are ratlierrd in the fleece, and, though this foreign clement is generally removed by m.i! hinery, it is sometimes removed by ■mmersing the wool in a weak solution of sulphuric acid, and the latter process is known as "carbonising." Fcllmongers use sulphide of sodium to loosen the wool mi sheepskins, emplov "pullers" to remove the wool liv hand from the skins, which nrp then known as " slines," while the wool is "shoe wool." "Dead wool" is liiat removed from the carcases of sheep which die from drought or other causes, •'.ml there will probably bo thousands of ! 'lies sold in Australia this year, since flip i drought has exacted a heavy toll on the | links of the Commonwealth. THE GEifERAL.