PROBLEM OF WOOL
—<•♦«» SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. SCIENTIFrc’cO-OPEIIATION NEEDED. Of oustanding interest at the pres ent time when the state of the wool market is being viewed with anxiety by sheepfarmers and the trade, is “Wool —A study of the Fibre,” by Dr S. G. Barker, of the Biritish Research Association, for the woollen and worsted industries. The monograph, which is published by H. M. Stationary Office, under the auspices of the Empire Marketing Board, is a summary of the existing state of scientific knowledge of the wool fibre, and is intended to prepare the way for future developments inresearch. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF WOOL There is, Dr. Barker considers an urgent need for a closed study of wool as a raw material, in view of its great economic importance to the Empire, which, as Dr. T. Drummond Shields, chairman of the Research Grants Committee of the Empire Marketing Board points out is strikingly shown in the trade returns of the United Kingdom Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In 1928 wool accounted for 19 per cent, of the United Kingdom’s imports of raw material, 48 per cent, of Australia’s .exports, 30 per cent, of New Zealand’s, and 56 per cent. of South Africa’s exports of merchandise fexcluding gold and precious stones). Nearly one half of the United Kingdom’s own production, amounting to about 100 million lbs. annually, is exported. The Empire as a whole exports twothirds (1400 million lbs) and Australia alone more than one third (750 million lbs.) of the total quantity of wool entering world trade (2150 milion lb.)
During the Imperial Agricultural Research Conference of 1927 the Empire Marketing Board invited representatives of the wool-growing Dominions to discuss the part that scientific research could play in raising the standard of wool production and enhancing the value of wool on relation to other fibres. The last few decades have witnessed the rapid growth of a new textile industry using artificial fibres produced under scientific control as a direct result of laboratory research. Wool has for so long held an unrivalled position as a textile material that until recent years comparatively little attention has been devoted to a scientific study of its qualities. The physical and chemical characteristics of wool as a natural product and the conditions that determine the special qualities prized by the manufacturer have remained for the most part a closed book.
The practical shill of the wool buyer can of course appraise these qualities with sufficient accuracy. For practical purposes microscopic measurement cannot take the place of a well-trained sense of touch, any more than chemical analysis can rival the senses of smell and taste in appraising perfumes and flavours. But when an attempt is made to find means of deliberately increasing the supply of wools most favourably by the manufacturer, scientific research has to be invoked to determine the physiological ■ conditions of production and to interpret the requrement of the technician into objectives that can be realised by ■ the breeder and pastoralist. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. Wool research thus provides unrivalled scope for concerted action between different parts of the Empire. The activities of workers in diverse fields, if inspired by a common goal and co-ordinated by personal contact, and the freest interchange of projects and results, may well lead to advances in knowledge and technique that may prove of the utmost practical value to all engaged in the industry. The manufactureer looks for improvements in the raw material and in the processes of manufacture, while the breeder and sheep farmer seek guidance as to the methods of producing those qualities in the fleece which will most enhance its market value .In both fields co-operative research in the Empire holds out promise of achievement. Dr. Sliiels says the British Research Association for the Woollen and Worsted Industries, under the direction of Dr. S. G. Barker, has already found it necessary to study the nature of wool in its physical, chemical arid biological aspects. Its work on the raw material brings it into close relation with those problems, breeding, nutrition and animal husbandry, in which the Dominions have a special interest. It has accordingly been recognised by the Empire Marketing Board as one of the chief centres for wool research in the Empire, and has been encouraged with the aid of grants from the board to fill an important role in this field. Next year it is hoped to invite the leading wool research workers in the Dominions to a conference in this country. THE ÜBIQUITOUS SHEEP. On the importance of wool to New Zealand there is no need to dwell. Nearly one-third—to be concrete, SO per cent.—of New Zealand’s exports of raw materia] n 1928 were accounted for by this commodity. The Empire as a whole exports two-thirds C1,400,0001 b.) of the total qquantity of wool entering world trade; and in New Zealand alone there are 27 million sheep. Yet, in spite of the enormous and universal importance of the industry, and in spite of the fact that wool is one of the oldest known materials in
the world (the first references to it occur in Babylonian carvings of around the year 4000 8.C.) we are facet!, says Dr. Barker, with this fact that, from an exact scientific point of view, we don’t know what wool is
made of. “What is wool?” is the question which Dr. Barker at the beginning of the monograph. He gives a masterly summary of the technical facts as they are known to-day, and is'u.m.mfcuuses the existing knowledge from the biological, the chemical, and the physical angles. The conclusion he reaches is that there is still a great deal to be learnt as to why wool behaves as it does—why, for instance, it grows in the “crimp” or in curls — what causes it to do so, or in what way, if any, the various peculiarities of wool' can be controlled. “SULPHUROUS” SHEEP. This is, in fact, the crux of the matter. Between the producer of wool and the manufacturer there is a yawning gap, and it is the object of scientific research - to build a bridge over this chasm The manufacturer, on the one hand, knows that he wants wool possessing, certain spinning and felting qualities, certain spinning and felting 'feet the dyeing and processing, and a certain regain and elasticity The' sheep raiser, even if he knows (which he frequently does not) the qualities required by the manufacturer, has no idea at all if these qualities can be encouraged by breeding, nutrition, selection, and pasturage, and if so by what methods.
To take one instance only; it is known that wool contains comparatively large amounts of sulphur, and it is the presence of sulphur that confers on the fibre much of its valuable characteristic of elasticity. An analogy is to be found in the vulcanisation of rubber, which consists in the incorporation of sulphur, and which has resulted in greatly increased durability and elasticity. On the other hand, nothing is known as to if and how sulphur content can be controlled by the breeder and sheep-raiser. It is impossible that one day the raising of highly sulphurous flocks may become the ambition of every progressive sheep farmer. In the meantime, the question “how far is high sulphur content desirable, and can it be brought within the breeder’s control?” awaits an answer.
' NEW USES FOR WOOD. A second, and scarcely less important, way in which scientific research may, perhaps, revolutionise the industry is by finding new ways in which wool can be used. Wool, Dr. Barker says, has never been fully exploited. There arc possbilities in the use of wool which have not yet been explored because of ignorance concerning the potentialities of the fibre. New methods of proeessng may result in the evolution of new frabies. Much comment was recently aroused by the discovery of a process by which bathing suits can be manufactured from wood. This is altogether a new use for wood, and there is no reason why the looms of the future should not weave wool into strange fabrics which have not yet been devised. In this direction science must blaze the path ; and at a time when competition from artificial fibres is invoking the demon of overproduction to scare one of the Empire’s most vital industries, the importance of this possibility needs no emphasis. Dr. Barker’s monograph contains an interesting history of the origin of wool. The progenitor of the sheep, the moufflon, possessed two coats; a coarse outer covering intended for protection, and a fine warm inner coat to ward off the cold. Our ancestors, who clothed themselves in sheepskins selected their suits with two objects in mind, namely, to pick the larger skids in order to reduce tailoring activities to a minimum, and to pick the, warmest ones. For these reasons they' encouraged the larger moufflons and also developed the animal’s inner woolly coat at the expense of the outer hairy covering. Traces of the mouff--lon’s hairs stll remain in the form of
“kemp” which is particularly troublesome in certain mountain breeds, and in the birth-coat of lambs. Sudanese sheep illustrate the reverse process: the hot climate in which they live has caused the gradual disappearance of the woolly coat, and now only the outer hairy covering remains. BETTER WOOL STANDARDS. “Wool next the skin” is an old maxim, like many others, it lias a scientific grounding. Wool is not only very absorbent, but has the peculiar quality of generating heat when wetted. Thus it readily absorbs the moisture of the skin, and at the same times gives out heat and causes a warm glow to spread over the body, so minimising the rsk of chills. This pecularity also causes bales otf wool to generate heat if they are exposed to excess moisture and it has been known to result in the bales bursting into or at least becoming ruined by charring of the wool. The main objective for which Dr. Barker and his team are working is to establish a set of sound and reliable standards for raw wool. Nowadays thorough standarisation is the watchword of industry, and the wool industry should be no exception. A scientifically comprehensive scheme is, however, hard to determine until more is known about the various properties of the fibre, and for this reason Dr. Barker urges the need for more research.
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Hokitika Guardian, 31 December 1929, Page 8
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1,722PROBLEM OF WOOL Hokitika Guardian, 31 December 1929, Page 8
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