WOOL-WASHING.

Otago Witness, Issue 838, 20 December 1867, Page 11

WOOL-WASHING.

(From the Australasian.) The subject is being now so fully discussed, that sheepowners in general should begin to understand the merits of hot water and spouts. And enough has been published to prove that no branch of the business is so likely to increase their profits quickly as the proper preparation of the fleece for market. Let them breed and cull their sheep ever so carefully, the improved returns from a greater weight and. better quality of wool come in slowly, and in a scarcely appreciable degree before the lapse of several years. But what a difference there is in the value of a clip well and badly got up. "We estimated the higher returns at from Is to Is 6d a fleece, wishing to be on the safe side, but MrCurrie and Mr Macknight tell ns that the difference is even greater. The former gentleman says that hot water and spout-washed wool realises a higher price by from 4d to Is a pound, according to quality ; and the latter shows that the wool from Dunmore netted last season Is B|d per fleece more than wool of the same quality from an adjoining station, although this was well got up according to the old system, or well brook- washed. Every judge of wool can testify that even if all the dirt be removed a slight additional degree of brightness will add 6d a pound to the value, and this is not to be obtained by the use of cold water, nor without soap and soda, except where the water is remarkablysoftand pure, asit is at Dunmore. But water of this character forms the exception, not one out of a hundred sheepowners being able to obtain such for his wash, so they must mostly use artificial means to obtain the highest possible degree of brightness, and not trust to yolk and water alone. From the sales of the last two years we learn that it is not sufficient to clean wool, but that to command the best prices it must have brightness too, be the quality ever so good. And j in attaining this there need be little or no j loss of weight, for with hot water the fibre of the wool is not contracted, so that even after the dirt is washed completely from the outside it still contains the sparkling oil or yolk in zhe centre of the tube. This imparts softness and condition, and renders it fit to be taken from tbe sheep's back as soon as it is free from water. But -when the sheep is kept in cold water for the time requisite to render the wool even tolerably clean the skin becomes chilled and white, and the fibre ot the wool contracts, so that it loses every vestige of the internal yolk, which does not rise again for several days. Such is the effect of a thorough chill, and wool cut from sheep on leaving the water after either process presents a marked difference when dry. The one is bright to the eye and mellow to the touch, while the other is dim and harsh. And as to the difference in weight, this is but slightif all the dirt be removed, which, by the way, is seldom done by the use of cold water alone.

However, leaving the question of condition, to which prices testify in the most convincing manner, we must return to the means by which this is best to be obtained. Ourreadershadto thank Mr Macknight last week for very valuable information obtained by him as the result of several years' study and experiment at Dunmore, and this week we give a plan suitable for those who are not so advantageously Bituated in regard to ' water. This is almost similar to that adopted by the Messrs Cumming at Mount Fyans,

as expressly adapted to carry out ! the new process to perfection when the water is hard. When this is the case tbe slightest chill must be avoided, or the dirt sets, and the stain cannot be I afterwards removed with any amount of spouting. Therefore, the warm-water pen I is a 3 close to the spouts as it can be, and there is no intermediate battery as at Dunmore. Mr Currie has tried the battery for finishing with instead of spouts, but it does not answer, unless with the j expenditure of about three times as much water as would suffice for the latter. Nor is it in any way more effectual ; therefore the simplest plan is the best ; and nothing can be more compact or more easily understood than the plan we give; The object in this is to allow of the sheep being soaked thoroughly in the pen, passing from one compartment to the other as they are fit, and then on to the small sta'^e, from which they are let down the slides to the men at the spouts. There is no preliminary sprinkling in the yards, 9.1 that is thought, on the plains, where the water is generally hard, to do more harm than good, rendering it difficult to keep the water in the soaking-pen up to the requisite degree of heat. Any sheep with very black tips can be rubbed with soap while in the pen. This is found to be sufficient to remove those of most Australian merinos, which are not usually very black or gummy ; but a preliminary sprinkling* of soapy water would be desirable for black-tipped Germans and American Merinos, even though causing a little extra consumption of fuel. Sheepowners obliged to use hard water find that the more rapidly they can have the process of washing completed the whiter their wool is. When the dirt ha 3 been well softened in the warm water, and not allowed to cool again, it is knocked off very quickly by the water from the spouts ; and the sheep leaves the water with its skin of a bright rosy red, showing that it has suffered nothing from the hot and cold bath. The same principle is adopted by Mr Learmonth at Ercildoun, but the water there being soft, the preliminary shower is in vogue. Thus, of the clips fetching the highest prices during the last few years, some have been washed with hard water and some with soft, but none without hot water and a due proportion of soap and soda.

If asked for perfection in the plan of a wash, we would say that this will be found in the plan we give, of course with modifications in detail, only substituting Mr Macknight's box spouts for those that are open, when the fall | of water will admit of such a change. A small quantity of water would have more i effect from the former, and when economy of this element is necessary, they would be a decided advantage ; but the intervening battery, according to the Dunmore plan, would be injurious when the water is in the least degree hard. And as to the water in which the sheep float, when under the spouts, becoming cloudy and ' dirty, this can be prevented by causing it to flow off freely from one outlet, which, unless there is some special reason to the contrary, should be placed behind the slides or under the stage. Some such compact plan will be found best Avhether the water is hard or soft, and it may be constructed almost entirely of * ood, if desirable. The soak-ing-pen may stand on the ground or be only slightly let do«m into it, allowing the men to handle and rub the sheep at a convenient distance below them. And as the warm water has to be changed very frequently to get rid of the dirt in an ordinary pen, this might be made with a false bottom closing down on the grating, so that the water below this, containing the b\ilk of the diit, could be allowed to flow out every now and then, without much of the cleaner [ water above escaping. Then the cold-water-pen under the spouts need not be large, and, if of wood or soiid masonry, could be made with recesses for the men to stand in and hold the she^p, thus avoiding the necessity for the inconvenient tubs. Even to keep three spouts going, the soaking-pen need not be made to hold more than from 12 to 15 sheep, unless they are very dirty, and require to be kept an unusually long time in hot water. No more than five minutes should elapse from the time a tolerably clean sheep goes down the slide into the soakpen until it leaves the hands of the men at the spouts. The working out of this system has resulted in the utmost simplification of the washing-place and economy of labor, so that not even a single tilt is required. And as nothing cap be simpler than the plan we give, we may suppose this to be near perfection. However, it shows very plainly the principle that must be acted upon in using soap and soda ; and, as Mr Macknight very correctly remarks in his last letter on the subject, let no one meddle with hot water unless prepared to carry out the new system of sheep- washing in its integrity. Without boilers enough to keep the water in the soaking tank up to about 110, and then

cold water enough in the spouts todaslt the dirt out quickly, the chances are ten to one that the wool is left stained and. dingy, and in worse condition than if the sheep had been only brook-washed. But,thanks to the information' furnished by our different experienced correspondents, and what we have otherwise been enabled to supply from time to time, those interested in the subject ought now to besufficiently well posted up to arrive at decisions on such points for themselves, and if in a position to adopt the system, with- knowledge enough of it to adapt one or other of the plans given to their circumstances in regard to land, water, and number of sheep.