OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2511, 30 April 1902, Page 9

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

(Feoii Our Special CoHP.EspoxDK.frJ BRADFORD, February 28. BLACK WOOL. The last few yeais black wool has been made a great deal more of than was formerly done, and while at one time it was thought more a hindrance and nui?ance than a blessing, this is not so to-day. Black wool has come to stay, and tho a o breeders who have a few black sheep in their flock may regard them mora as a spepial blessing- than otherwise. We think that (he oft-repeated axiom that there are "black sheep in every flock" has lost, to some extent, irs horrid significance, though the sneak and impostor who attempts to cheat under the guise of purity and truth is certainly deserving of the strongest words of condemnation, and. to be ca3t out of society as a blackguard. Real black sheep in the animal >vorld can only be regarded to-day as "a boon and a blessing to men," illustrating once more the wisdom of a benign Creator in providing Hi 3 creatures with exactly what they want to preserve health and promote the general happiness of mankind. During the past few years black wools have grown in popular favour, simply because they have found the proper sphere for which Nature intended them. Every sheepbreeder must know by this that, unlike white wools, black descriptions are used in their natural state — that is, undyed. Experience has found out long ago that to attempt to dye black wool would be simply a waste of time and money, besides more or less injuring the staple. It is impossible to dye black wool into any other shade than black, the operation simply deepening the colour and rendering it a more heavy or "jet black" still. But medical science, aided and substantiated by experience, has found out that dyed fabrics, when worn next to the skin, are highly injurious to the wearer, and should never be adopted by anyone, and particularly by a person given to sweating. Take the case of a person troubled with sweaty ffet, and who wears, say, black stockings. We cannot conceive of that person doing a more foolish thing — endangering health at every turn ; and yet for all that it is a veiy common occurrt-nce. After a life-long experience in handling and ceeing wool thioujrh every stage of ita •manufacture, we have long ago di=carclecl the use of all dyed materials next to the skin, confident that the absorption of colouring matters by the pores of the skin i= simply the taking m of so much foreign and poisonous matter. It ii exactly here that the benefits of black wool come in, and modern manufacturers have at last met the needs of nature by producing the \ cry fabrios that Nature requires, and which are best fitted for mankind at large. The production of "sanitary" or ''health" flannels or undergarments i= now a thing of first importance with underwear manufacturers, and the?o are the men who compete keenly for black wool*. It i- no uncommon thing to-day to ■sec a bale of black fine wool sell for 25 to 50 per cent, more than does the ordinary white wool out of the same flock, simply because black is rather scarce and wanted. When the Briti=h Government gave out an order for natural underwear flannels at the beginning of the Boer war, black wool went up tTemendoiuly, and it has fallen very little since, it being to-tlay relatively dearer than white wool. "Natural grey" flannels, or "health" flannels, as they arc usually called, are the thing for every person, and as underve-,ts, pants, etc.. they should be universally worn, containing no wool that has been dyed, the colour, if sometimes a little light, being got by blending together white and the natural black wool. Even the scouring of the black wool does not alter the shade, only the grease, etc.. being removed, tho colour being the s-amc. In these black wools wo have everything a sensible person can possibly require for comfort and appearance, bc^idc-3 weai - ing capabilities and the itioro the hygienic qualities become known tho greater will be the call. To growers \rc would say, let all black fleeces be baled separately. It is a mistake to pack them along with white fleeces, a^ it is net every buyer that can use thorn. Even. if. there ore only sufficient to juake

a little bales that vrill sell better because I it is all blacb wool than if it were a mixture ( of black and -white, i