Agricultural and Pastoral.

Otago Witness, Issue 930, 25 September 1869, Page 16

Agricultural and Pastoral.

GETTING /UjP I WOOL. Me G. R. Hirst, in his'lastanonthly'report published- in .the Sydney Morning* Herald, gives some good advice to squatters-: — " I have been frequently asked if it is desirable to have -wools classed on the station ; *by which I understand, the divisions into various sorts of. first,, second, and third, &c, combing and clothing samples. My opinion is, that unless such sorting can be done by really competent parties, it is far better let alone, and I believe I am right in supposing that a scientific classification is not within the reach of the majority of our wool : growers. There is, however, a mode of getting up wools for either the Sydney or home markets which any intelligent squatter may perform without the assistance of any, 'quasi' wool-sorter, whose labours serve only to complicate those of the English sorters whenever the wool comes under their hands. T would simply advise a full skirting of the fleeces, and then a separation into the respective sorts of hoggets, wethers, ewes, pieces and locks, &c. This process, ■ I am satisfied, would more surely secure the confidence of buyers than the extraordinary jumble of so-called sorts which have frequently come under my observation. One thing I wish specially to bring under the notice of wool- growers, which should commend itself to all concerned. 1 allude to the packing of coarse, ill-bred fleeces with those of superior value. Ihere are, unhappily, on many stations numbers of coarse fleeces utterly unfit to be packed with wools of the merino type, and these it does not require the eye of a wool-sorter to distinKuish. Sheep bearing wool of this description, I trust, will before long be consigned to the pot; but as the fleeces will probably be sent to the market next season in considerable cuantities, I would urge upon the owners, for their own sake, the great desirableness of having them packed separately, and marked fay a distinguishing brand. Wool-growers who pack their produce indiscriminately little know what damage the discovery of a single coarse, ill-bred fleece does to the value of their clip when it is found packed with better wool in the same bale ; for the natural inference in the minds of buyers is that the clip is uneven throughout, and consequently prices are prejudiced by the suspicion that such irregularity naturally induces, " Next, with regard to pressing and marking. 1 observe that the whole system of spadetressing still greatly prevails, in consequence S3 a lafge proportion of the wools to hand arrive in a loose, Jvenlyconte This could easily be avoided, and at little cost, by using the means every station affords for the construction of a simple lever press, which is a good substitute for the most costly tack and pinion press, now *> rapidly coming into general use! and which those who use them find much to their convenience and advantage. "With respect to the mcrlung of bales, I venture to offer a suggestion winch, at little or no appreciable cost, will be found very advantageous. It is to mark the bales m large easily distinguishable letters, and to use the b^nJt in two places on each bale-say one -on the side, and the other on fie end-the number of each bale, as a matter of course, accompanyiniMhe brand. My reason for the above suction is, that the branSa of wool when Imperfectly n larked are frequently lost during Swearand tear which bales have to undergo before they reach their final market ; and at times their indentiflcation n l London ware, houses is a sheer impossibility. One other case I must refer to on the subject of packing, and that is, the apparently prevailing opmSn that anythin/in the shape of a pack will d "for greasy wool. This is a great mistake, and those who forward unwashed wool to the * arket may be assured that the heavy condition of their produce requires for its safe transmission the bc3t possible packages they Eo at command. Old pack- night answer In an economical point of view it all wools, n crease were to be scoured before shipment, but there are at all times buyers for the English market, and wools m rotten and otherwise insufficient packages are often-, especially in dull tiraei-cntircly overlooked.