THE AUSTRALIAN MERINO.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1242, 13 May 1922, Page 7

THE AUSTRALIAN MERINO.

FINENESS OF THE WOOL. Since the first merino sheep went put to Australia the race has prospered in a remarkable way. The wool is thicker, it contains more serrations and more waves, and it is, if anything, more supple than the original Spanish wool. The art of breeding has been carried to such perfection that fleeces from the best sheep are now nearly twice as heavy as they used to be, neither have they suffered any diminution in their quality. Care in breeding has also eliminated any sheep in a flock which may have produced rather stronger wool than their fellows. In thus eulogising the Australian products, Mr H. Trie writing in a London journal, says that certain marks, such as that grown at one time by Sir Samuel Wilson on the Ercildoune Estate, produced wool of such extraordinary" fineness that it was spun into a thread, of which there would be fully 51 miles in lib weight. The average diameter* of each fibre in that wool was l-1500in, whereas, the best English wool from Leicester or Yorkshire measures in. It is therefore two and a half times the diameter of the finest Australian. This 'fineness l of fibre in Australian merino wool gives it is chief value. It enables it to be spun into threads which are very small, and which are therefore capable of being made into the very best dress fabrics. They are also used in the production of garbardines of the very best quality. In such a cloth each strand of each warp thread would be so small that there would be over 19 miles of it in every pound. Mr Trlestman’s observations are of some interest at the present time, when efforts are being made in South Africa nd elsewhere to produce wool similar to the high-quality Australian article.