CLASSING WOOL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1595, 12 November 1912, Page 8

CLASSING WOOL.

GFTTING UP THE CLIP. ADVICE TO WOOLGROWERS. There is-a good deal.to interest steepfarmer's in the series of lectures given recently by. Mr., Sam Wood to the'wool- . classing students at the Napier Technical 'College Dealing with the mutter \>f get- '• ting up the clip, Mr. .AVood says:— , The'most important point-in getting :up a clip is that of uniformity, or "evenness") that is, the flceco should be graded according to quality, condition, colour, length, soundness, freedom from vegetable '.matter,.ctc.Many wool-growers are under - the. impression that "station classing" is unnecessary, because the wool is sorted ' at the mill; but this is quite a.different operation to'tha,t, of station classing. '. Sorting for.actual'mill work may be : likened, in a way/to the speculative . buyer in our. local markets;, the sorter begins,-say,- on a bale of 40's fleeco wool— ; the extreme range of qualities in such a bale will be fiv..n 32's to 50's, that is from the britch end-of the coarsest fleeces to the shoulders of the finest fleeces. In addition to this, he must be on the look put for.dingy or discoloured.wool,.kemps, . short-stapled or', carding -wool, tender backs, matted collars, burry, seedy, or wasty wool generally. 'Such wools havo .their uses; but they are only fit for the .cheaper.kind of go'ods,,consequently their presence depreciates the. price of the rest. "In the same .-way- the speculative buj-er is on the look out ..for badly-classed clips, '■ small uneven lines;'• because ■ they are : cheaper, arid 'Be rcgrades the whole lot, making separate 'lines suitable for dif.fererit branches of. the.b'ade.:What the Buyers' Want.'.'■■"" The small., uneven Mines, do not corri--mand. the competition of the.- American' ; and large Homo and Continental . buyersj for the, following- reasons: . —The Americans.; only want light- ,' wool,'as they havo a heavy \ duty.to pay, and they consider that buy-. : ing.heavy-conditioned; wool is equal', to- ,- .paying- eleven cents ])er'lb. on so much' ■•': "extra grease. The, large .'"Home and Gon-. .; tinental buyers, on.the other hand, do, not object'.to heavy-conditioned'wool if :it• is evenly cussed so .as to assist them-'-to- ■■] estimate; the actual .amount ' of • clean ; wool for. combing or : carding purposes. ' The French buyers, -for instance, , buy tender wool because they are specie : ally equipped'for'dealing-with it, 6ut ; growers' should remember that any souiid fleeces /.packed .along with it are- : i bought at the same, price, as'the tender . kwool. ~A--.-few. lirms- mdke a-specialty ; of, dealing .with burry';wool; other .firms • will-not look.at it; therefore the grower who keeps his lines even and distinct , commands the competition of both. The. same may ba said'of long and short, wool. The two main divisions in the manufac-' ture of wool are cfimbiiig.and carding..ln combing, length of fibre is the first consideration, while in carding short or;medium'fibres, are preferable; but fel,ting. property-is the'main consideration. • Of course, it "inust be' distinctly understood • that the large runholderscau make more . sorts-than the small "farmer, and it is' desirable that he' should do so, in order to command the competition of all sections of the trade .without.makiiig h:a lots'so small as to be'put in _the star lots. The wool generally, sent into. the. sale room ,-itt" the worst condition belongs to 'the small fariner; lots suffer' more 'by comparison with :his larger neighbovirs on account of their size.' It is-not advocated that u skilled ctiisscr : should'clo the w.ofii on these'clips','-but the farmer should learn to do the work himself; he will, then know the. difference, and will, in consequence, t4ike more pride in his work. How. many farmers argue that it does not pay to" do anything- with theso smalllines? ; They s«y >lr. -So-and-Sb's wool' was d«ho up in tvp-top style lost .season, and ■ I put; everything , in, the bale, and the .-sres.ult.Mvas the.snnietprice'per.-lbi';. 'I.'liis. way of looking at it is all right as far as "it'.goes'." But was the wool the sane quality as his own? Was the condition the same? And was there tlie same amount of vegetable matter in it? These may seem only trifles-to the grower, but to .the Buyer they would mako a difference t>f Id. per lb.; the grower loses por bale. On the other hand, a clip should not be split up into unnecessary sorts, as smalllots cannot-be expected to command the- same competition as ' larger parcels. W<ell-known clips are 'sometimes split up 'into a number of small lots quite unwarranted by the distinctions made, andv'which neither classer, owner, broker, nor buyer can distinguish. Dealing With a Small Clip., . .'.".. .Take the case of a man with a very small clip of -four, or five bales. What ;he should do is to take off the'bellies and . dags, but notfco skirt except to take, off the stains; going round.the fleece taking cfi sweat dags,or fribs found inside the" leg's. There are several ways of rolling a fleece, but the. following leaves the fleeces most attractive:—First throw in the britch, and then a little of the neck; then take the side of the fleece furthest from you and fold it.twice, towards yc-u, thus leaving the fleece in three layers with the : .back wool on top; then roll froni britch to neck. This method of rolling presents the., most attractive portions of the, fleece to the 'buyer's attention. If you\huv9 . any fine fleeces, put them in one half of the bale when pressing, and notify your broker' with- full particulars. When pressing do it neatly.as if some care had been taken: it always creates a good im-. /pression with the buyers, and first impressions are always best. The belly pieces and locks'will-only mal;e ; a fadge, but put .them in separately; if you mix them the. chances are that the locks are valued, ahd'tho bellies and picces.are a pickling for the buyer.' If bags are used see that they are clean half.full of chaff or.grass seed; wool buyers have absolutely no use for chaff, not even the best. The grower with a twenty-bale clip should .skirt'hiswool more freely,, taking off the bare outside edges of the .fleece, such as a patch of seed, a cottedlor seedy neck,, etc. ; If the wool is of an.average crossbred quality two or three sorts should, bo made—namely: (1) Bright, fine, and good conditioned; (2) a little coarser and worse conditioned; (3) (if necessary) all bush stained, ootty, seedy, or dingy, all inferior fleeces;\but, in any case, make as few sorts' os possible, but let each sort be distinct and of even value. When oddments have to bo pressed into one bale press wool of equal value, so far as posi:b!e, together." Don't press locks and fleeces or lambs and stains pieces together. Alark the bales with a black line where the division takes place. | Classing a Clip. ' •-' It is a difficult matter to indicate on. paper how to get up any clip, largo or small, as so many things nave to be ■ taken into' consideration, such as breed of flock, kind of country' (burnt bush, fern, or open plains), good or bad season, /etc.;'but the general line taken' by an experienced classer in ■massing a' clip of 150 bales of a Lincoln and liomney .flock would be as follows:— In this flock the Lincoln would throw the coarsest fleeces, about 32's to' 36's quality; the Romneys the finest, 44's and 46's; and the cross between the two breeds would produce 40's. Consequently it would' be advisable to make sorts of a fine, medium, ' and coarse quality, lotted into two of each as follows:— • AA. All the lightest conditioned, Ins- ' trous and most attractive looking fleeces of the finest quality, 44's'-<l6's. A. All the' heavier conditioned, duller, .and,less attractive' looking fleeces of the same quality. 88. All the lightest t conditioned, lustrous, and most attractive looking fleeces , of medium quality. - B. All the' heavier-, conditioned, duller and less attractive looking fleeces of medium quality, 40's. ' •' C. All the heavier conditioned, duller, and less attractive -looking fleeces of tho coarsest quality, 32's-3G's.. If only a small lot, B and C could be merged into one class. There would also be a cast lino-made up as follows:— Seedy, matted, kempy wool, double ,fleeces, etc.. Neck and ibritch pieces ■ should.be kept separate. A pieces: AH the best conditioned, bulky, and bright pieces. B pieces: All heavy and dirty pieces. . , Lambs. A lambs: All the brightest, cleanest, and best conditioned. B lambs: All inferior lambs. . jJ.U stains, black and seedy should be U Breffiod tos;ethei>

The clnsser would have to consider the advisability of keeping wether fleeces ' separate irom the owes, and should al- j ways keep hoggets' wool entirely separate : .from the rest of the clip. Considering 1 that the extra cost of expert classing only costs about 2s,' per bale, whilst the extra ' value of classed and skirtgd' fleeces is any- ' ,thing.from.7s. to 20s. per bale, one would ; 'naturally expect all clips to be got up to j ; the best advantage. Wool growers who t follow the general lines here laid down ■ will supply the needs of the following ' branches of the industry: 1. The American buyers. • ■ ..'"■'' 2. The manufacturers. (There are manufacturers who are on the look-out for .special lines of wool, whose prices are nearest to-those of the Americans.) 3. Topmakers. Topmakers are very ' large and important buyers; they blend | pur New Zealand wool with other wools l :s'uch'as'Cape, BA, greasy fleece and slipe \ wools; etc., to produce a cheap "top" for s sale to manufacturers. •' ' 4. French topmakers. These, people are \ •specially equipped for dealing with tender i wool. . t 5. Manufacturers of woollen goods. I These people take our short wools of vari- ' ou.s qualities'to assist them to work up ' the by-products of other sections of the j trade. Last, but not by any means least, are the hosiery manufacturers. These people are on the look-oiit for wool of a soft lofty feel,-which is so necessary in goods of this character. When growers consider that these are ; only the main branches of the trado they will easily tee the necessity for expert classing. ','.--