WASHING V. SHEARING IN GREASE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1625, 2 August 1887, Page 3

WASHING V. SHEARING IN GREASE.

» ■ A quarter of a oeatury ago only a very email per cenUge of the Australian woo) was shipped m the grease. Sheepwashing plants, with high-pressure spout?, were brought to auoh a state of perfection m the colonies that the wool was taken almost snow white from thesheeps' backs. By degrees, however, flheepwashing his fallen bo much into diacae that of late years a very large proportion of the Australian clips have been shipped m the grease. Various reasona have been as sinned for tha change. One is that however carefully the wool may be washed on the backs of the sheep, it has still to undergo the process of coming by the manufacturer, and It Is said that tbe latter can guage the percentage of dirt In the wool to a nicety, and, therefore, no object la gained by washing beyond the saving m weight m the carriage of the wool to the ship's side and the slight advantage m freight to England. Theee charges, however, It Is considered by many are more than counterbalanced by the saving of labor m washing and the rough ussga the sheep have to undergo m the process. It is certain that the competition is much keener for grea*y than for washed wool m the London market at the present time. The Americans will not tonch washed, and the Continental buyers prefer (o bay m the grease. A wellknown London wool-broker who recently visited this colony stated that the number of buyers of washed wool ia England was so small, comparatively, that the brokers deemed it necessary to notify tbetn by circular when any washed clips were forward during tho Bales. On the question a valuable communication from Mr John Scrivon, a well-known Bradford wool stapler, appears m the "Lire Stock Journal" of 22ad April last. Mr Soriven strongly advocates placing the wool on the market m the grease, and writing as an expert his arguments appear almost unanswerable. He B*ys : - " Every man nowadays who knows his trade, experiences the fact that wool not only keeps better a reasonable time m its own natural grease, but it waihes with half the soap, and combs better, and aplus better, and makes more perfect goods ; and what is more, we are dow making all kinds of soap, candles, and what not out of what are called soapsuds. If these be made from wool which haß been shorn off the sheep m its natural state it yields a larger income to the manufacturer In the shape of fatty matter, all of which our siUy custom of washing causes to be washed all over the country." On the question of the time required to dry, or, as we express it m this colony, allowing the yolk to "rise" after washing, Mr Scriven offers sound advice. He saya " nine fine sunny days after the sheep have been washed must be allowed for the sap to get up •gain, or, as a shearer would farther experience, tbe bottom of the staple nearest the skin, ' rises ' and beoomes easy for the shears to clip, whereas if shorn before the wool rises, the shears require double the itreDgth to cut the wool, therefore unless tbe shoep be allowed these nine days, it oannot force the sap or suet up into the staple of tho wool; and if that staple be not, so to speak, filled with Nature's suet of oil, It can never ba the good spinning wool otherwise described. To illustrate this I refer your readers to any tubwaßhed fleece— l mean a fat hog fleece which was washed 00, say, a Saturday, dried on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and then ahorn iff the sheep. Thia fleece if compared at dip day with a fleece which has been washed and allowed nine days to become full of natural sap, will be found luatreless, flabby and dead, whereas the nine-day wool will be bright, lively, and full of elasticity— in fact, a brlghtspringy floece." After citing the fact that the bulk of the wools of Devoc shire, the Highlands of Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, and South America, all reach the buyers m the grease, and are rrost valuable m consequence, he states the reason why they are so Id the following words : — " Because these wools cants m what Nature never intended to be washed out — namely, the suet or greac9 which, with judicious washing, can be retained m the wool fibre till attwtlly woven into either a gentleman's coat or lady's dress ; and then be treated as the latest scientific discoveries requl.e, instead of being deadened and destroyed by the ignorant farmer ■imply because his grandfather did it before him." An article m the same paper en the subjeot of this letter quotes Mr F. H. Bowman, the expert who reported on the wcols at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. That gentleman takes the same line as Mr Scriven. He states that the wool " which came m grease/ 1 so that it was from well fed sheep and carefully shorn and packed, came with lets damage to its elasticity and color than that which had boon clipped from sheep carefully washed. Mr Bowman, the writes states, bnseß his opinion — that wool m the grease is Bftfest to hold and to handle— upon his knowledge of fibre, and the eff ct upon fibre of air dry ness, and manipulation. He maintains that the wool as It grows, bo that Ik be properly grown, is m better condition for the skilled manufacturer than is th^t Into which any intermediary can put^the fleeoe. " Let the manufacturer nave the fleece just as the sheep grows it ; and do nothing \o the ahqep that it cannot do voluntarily for Itself " is the burthen of Mr Bowman's report. Here wo have the opinions of two practical rn,en, well-known, and of long practical experience m tbe wool trado, m,en who qre accepted as representative men In, the trade, reporting most strongly m favor of shipping wool m grease. And if this is the opinion of the trade generally. In England, the ''wash poo}" will soon b^ooine a of the past m Australia.