OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LX, Issue 9345, 16 April 1909, Page 2

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

DIFFERENCE IN QUALITY

DIFFERENT TERMS AND THEIR

MEANINGS,

(From Our Special Correspondent.) BRADFORD. March sth, 1905).

Perhaps some reader is now asking himself the question, what is tho actual meaning of the term 40's, 46'h, f)O\s, s(i's aud (iO's quality of wool, for experience has found that there are very few wool growers indeed who viiu toll oue quality from another. By 40's quality is meant that tho wool iv question will spin forty hanks of yarn, each hank measuring s('>o yards, or 22,400 yards to the pound. This may seem a long length, and no doubt it is, but if the wool is well grown, of good length, aud sound, a clean pound weight of top—i.e., combed wool —should produce, when spun, the number of yards already indicated. Iv tho case of (iO's qualitj , , the real meaning is that for every cloan pound oU top there can be spun into a yarn or thread sixty times 0(10, or any :w,WO yards of material. Tho reader will, therefore, see l.haf. no in alter what may he tho count, of crossbied or merino wool in question, tho method lof gauging I,ho quality in by I h<: standard already outlined. It in impossible to show hy inoro words a man what is 40's or 50'.s wool, although if anyono i uteres! ml in the trade who cannot} roll ono quality from another will only t.iko tho trouble t,o got together a dozen wimples, draw out one staple from each, lay them on a board side by side, he will then nee at ono<.) a vast difference in l,ho fineness of tho libni, and it' ho starts with a full-breu crossbred, or say Lincoln, ho is certain tv have li'i's to 40's, a Leicester .should run from lO's 10-lfs, a Konmoy 4(>'s to 48's, while the first cross between any of these breeds with a merino ewo will product) half-bred wool ranging from r>o's to sett's quality. At every wool growing centre in tho colonies, South Africa and tho River Plate there should be in the public library a case .showing tho various .standard qualities of wool, aud these could then always be consulted by anyone wanting to gam an intelligent conception of tin; wool trade. In crossbred wools there is a most useful article, and with the wants of the world vastly increasing, it is bard to see how they could bo .supplied without tho wide range of qualities being producod that wo see to-day. Manufacturers this last ton years have found out new and better methods of handling these wools, and, producing, as they do, some high-class and saleable fabrics, their use. is fully assured for tho future

COURSE OF PRICKS. Si ueo writing last, the course of the market, shows practically no chauge. Prices remain very steady and firm, and the trade is now practically waiting to ,s(!0 tho opening of tho next series of .sales, when an all-round rise of about fivo per cent, is generally expected. Tho following table shows the movement of values during the past month on the dates February 4th, February 11th, February lSth and February 2oth respectively:— Lincoln hogs, i)d ; Lincoln wethers, 7*\<\; York's hiro hogs, best, Yorkshire wethers, best, Bj.-,'d ; North hogs, J 3d; North wethers, lO^YI; Irish hogs, .super, IUJd; Irish wethers, super, Kent wethers, to half hired hogs, Midland Counties, 10 :f ,,d; halfbred wethers, Midland Counties, SM.j'd; Southdown tegs, jy_/yd; Southdown cws, lijd ; pick Shropshire hogs, 12d ; pick Shropshire wethers, Wiltshire Down tegs, J2 J ,od; Wiltshire Down ewes, 12d; Eastera Counties Down tegs, Eastern Counties Dovvu ewes, n<l; Cheviot hogs, super, lid; Scotch blackface, (id ; Turkey average mohair, liij.Ul; Cape firsts mohair, lHiid ; 70's colonial tops, to 2(id ; (>'4\s colonial tops, 24d to aud 25d ; c>o , s colonial tops, super, 23d to 2:3. 1 : ,; d, 'Z'i}SA and 24d ; iiC's colonial tops, 18J.,'d~to J'Jd; oO's colonial tops, Kid to l(U<jd ; Jii's colonial tops, i:s> 4 'd to 13J-.id and 14d ; 40's colonial tops, ll : !.,(l to 1M ; »>"s colonial tops, 10•'*..{d to ll.'-jd aud lljji'd; i 32's colonial tops, 10d to lOlod. Iv very few cases was there any appreciable difference throughout the four weeks indicated.