ENGLISH WOOL LETTER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 35, 5 November 1918, Page 8

ENGLISH WOOL LETTER

SOUTH AMERICAN WOOLS* WHY USERS APPRECIATE THEM , (From.'Our Special/Correspondent.) Bradford, September 5. During-the past week some -Uruguayan* wools have been on show at the Cham--ber of Commerce in Bradford; • These wools, twenty samples in all, were awarded prizes at an exhibition held at Monte Video early this year, and have been forwarded to Bradford to givo interested parties'an opportunity to examine them.. The Wool Textile Association has had tho. matter in hand, and in response to. their request the 1 Chamber of Commerce has granted facilities for, the wools being.seen. An examination of the samples has shown that they are of a most excellent type and character. They range in quality from 3C's to 80's, including, somo very,good crossbred wools of from 50's to 58's. . Lincoln and Rompey blood.has been used very freely in Tint-, guay 'daring the past. few. years, and if the .samples are anything to go-by the wool has.Jiot suffered in any way—quite the'reverse. There are indications of all-round'improvement, and if wool growers .throughout .South America and ;in other pafts :of the world continue to work on the same progressive lines, no fejirs need be entertained respecting the w6ol of the'future.

How Progress has been Made. It should be interesting to readers to make a few comments on the means by which'the '.present standard of.efficiency 'has been attained. Time was when South American wools generally figured rather poorly in the wool world. Sciib was' prevalent among the flocks, and those who have even a casual knowledge of this'disease'know what disastrous effects it produces.', Greater attention to i the flocks has, however, resulted in this ailment being practically eliminated; greatly to the benefit of both tho sheep and wool. Further, the improvement which has taken place has been greatly assisted by selection and cross.breeding on tho lines already named above, that is by«using Lin win and Eomney rams. The result of this is that the wools grown in South America to-day compare very well indeed with the production of Australia and New Zealand.' Pastoralists who have had any experience of wool growing know that it is impossible to force Nature out of her own pace. Developments can only be made at such a rate and on such lines as ; are in' harmony with Nature herself, and once having grasped-.this principle pustoralists are on the highway to success. The writer is a strong believer-in honest rivalry, and/therefore thinks that the success attained by. breeders in South America is. worthy of some. recognition by pcstoralists in Australia and New Zealand. Of course, the iwo latter countries were in the field before South America, Australia being a pioneer country in the production of w.ool on a large commercial scale, such as is necessary ..to. satisfy manufacturing "requirements to-day. All the flame, the principles which ..'are applicable to them apply also to South American, breeders, and acknowledging as we miist that a large part 'of tho- South American'continent is suitable for both merinos arid crossbreds, we are faced with the., prospect that in coming years South America will play an even' larger part in supplying the world's wool needs than is the.case to-day.'

Char'acter of' South American Wools. As' already- stated both merino and cvossbred wools can be grown'in fiouth America, though the; crossbred typp,predominates. The-merino wool is principally grown in Uruguay, of which the wool centre is Monto Video. The-best clips give a very good yield, and though the handle and working-up of the staple is hot equal to that of the Australian merino, the /uiality is such that it is gredtly appreciated-'by-users ,in this country for- the production of worsted and similar fabrics. The greater part of, the crossbreds, come from the River Plate, and there is no dou/bt\ that, if they were available to-day they would be used, for blending purposes along w'ith New Zealand and Australian crossbreds. ; The greater part of River Plate crossbreds are.of 40's to 46's quality, though both finer and coarser, can ■ be found. . It is no exaggeration to' say that the/ittitude 'of -. the trade towards South American wools is quite different to-dny from what it. used to be, and if any. quantity of these were available in tho country to-day they would bo readily consumed. The improvements already outlined have resulted in nrejudice being overcome. .

The Political Question. ( ; ' • A by no means unimportant point associated with South American.wools is : the fact that before' the war.South /American wools were, and even in.a.krge measure are to-day, under German influence. In the event of Germany being unable tq secure. wools from any other source, South America-would supply practically all she needed, providing,, of course, that the various States in South America remained neutral, and were willing to allow their raw material tobetpken by German buyers. In 1017 a; rather bad move was'made, onewhich' affected those who were prepared to import South American wools into this country. As is well-known thero ore large British buying interests at Morite Video and Buenos Aires, which if allowed to operate could bring homo considerable quantities of law material, and it was evidently tho sincere desire.of the firms to bring Home raw material to help to overcome what wjs then Relieved to be a v somewhat serious situation in connection with raw material siuiplies for manufacturing purposes; ■at TTome. The offer to import wool and turn it over to .the Department on a very narrow margin, if carried into effect would have srreaiiy assisted the situation hero, but though steps were taken in this direction, nothing on an extensiro scale was ''one. It ws. recognised at the-vimo that itHyas a bad move on the port of the Department not to' allow further/ supplies to be shipped, and possibly soma of, th„i problems which ore having to be dealt with to-day in connection with .South American wools would not hnvp .irisen if larger arrivajs. had .been possible then. So far as Australian, New Zealand, find South Afriein wools are concerned, thn purchase'scheme now operative is com--narativelv simple, but it will wiuire <dill further dnvelooriients of a. political'«Wacfer in South America for "the BriUrli and.- American Gqvovnniprjts'to be aWo to acquire anything like the ssm.e hold on South American-wools as the British GovoTPment now has on the r)rcd'""?_of A,,ctralia' and New ' inland. "We" hardly think this-is at all likely.

■The; Scope for Wool-growing. , The South American Continent is made up of eleven estates, but only two of " them have attained any importance as contributors to the world's wool requirements. These are IJrugu'ay arid the; Argentine! The capital and chief seaport of the former is Monte Video, and of tho latter Buenos Aires, these t\TO_ being household names, so to speak, in wool consuming circles. Uruguay has an area of 72,000 square miles and the Argentine an area of 1,120,000 square miles, being the second largest, country in South America. A few sheep and goats are Kept in some of the other States, and Peru is well known as the source of alpaca and llama "wool." It will be seen that the Argentine is much the larger of the'two' States which have attained, to any importance in growing wool, and the foil of both, or at least, va larger part of. them is very fertile, much of it being well suited for raising sheep. A certain extent of the Argentine Republic is made up of nnmense plains, some of which are without watoV and sterile. So far as land area is concerned there is, however, nm/ple opportunity for developments in these two States, ■aiid so long as Hie present policy is pursued we may reasonably expect to see an increase in the output of raw material. It may be added that the Lincoln >and Romney blood to which reference has alrendy been made is drawn from England and New Zealand, and one often reads in the agricultural papers of'consignments of both these breeds being to South America. Within the past month at least one shipment of Romney stud eheop has been made, and judging from the photographs of tho Liucolns which tho writer has seen, buyers „in Monte Video are taking care fo secure

tho best class of stocks possible. This is a tribute to both pasloralists in South America and sheep farmers in the Old Country. The breeds kept in England have contributed very largely to the upbuilding of tho crossbred in Australia and New Zealand, and the same thing applies to South America.

Stocks and Production, The following tables give a comparison of the numbers of sheep and the weight of wool produced in the sheep State* of South America during tho past few years. The figures for Uruguay' and, Argentine are .the most important, and they are verv suggestive to all pastoralMs. No date of sheep stocks is available for Bra7.il and Peru. The details are appended:— WOOL. I 1911. 1912 i' l6 - lb. lb. lb. Areentine ... 327,166,640 368,161,500 258,250,000 Brlril .... - 30 ODO 1.130,000 35,000,000 Ghne 27M5000 27,745,000 20,000,000 Peru • 9 940,000 9.940,000 , 3,420,700 Uruguay" '.'.'... 12-1,339,440 138,332,375 139,250,000 Falkland Is. 4>4,U00 4,324,000 3,200,000 i SHEEP. \ Argentine .... 67,211,754 ■ 77,303.517 75,000,000 Chfle !.... 4.224 266 '4,224,266 4 602,3 7 Falkland Is. ' 715,651 724,736 - 705,000 Uruguay! 26,286,296 26,286,296 25,000,000