OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2813, 12 February 1908, Page 8

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

!Fxo - Our Special Correspondent.;

BRADFORD December 20. POINTS IN BUYING WOOL— SOME HINTS TO BEGINNERS

H pile of wpo- is Jke d woman— us 'ace sometimes mis'eads as to its .'.rue character The buyer in the lofts is confronted by buge squares of the fleecy material, each a. problem *o be solved by his senses of siglit and touch. L" pon his degree of accuracy in arriving at these solutions deDends his personal reputation and his em"loyer'b business success.

No man, howe\er expert, 3an -omb, spin, or weave jvel! if the wool ;s; s deficient in some cardinal respect. .The wool buyer btsnds at the nyer end of a long fire line ; if he passes empty or leaking buckets to the next man there will be no victory for the crew.

A normally constitutec man, 1. unce. 30 jears of age, can master the sorter's knowledge by confining himself rigidly to the board and applying himself with diligence. .The bargaining instinct, however, must be inborn to some extent, but a slight natural tendency to acute dealing can be carefully nursed by observation and en'arged through experience until the ever-ready resource and fertility of argument essential to wide practice in taking up wools is acquired. The sorter jannor, by right of his trade knowledge, be sent out to buy. Business dealing and elementary calculations are allimportant points to be combined with a tajMili*rity with the fibre. And the vital ability ■to estimate approximately the percentags of extraneous matter in the fleeces — "judging the shrinkage'' — is only to be gained through years of sJose application It is the gift of time and experience alone. Examining 20 or 30 lots of wool in a warehouse and endeavouring to retain _ k distinct recollection of the characteristics of each without notes is almost 'Impossible. Of course, if one is seeking a particulai kind of stock, a wool for a given purpose, he may at once eliminate all lots apparently unsuited to that purpose. The problem is greatly simplified thereby, and the search narrows down to a definite But, as is very, .frequently the case, »kfn

on© is "sooxiting" on the market with a vaiiety of strings to his bow; nhen a. resume of ai arable stocks i« to be collected before selection ;s; s made it is necessary to have definite detail* covering a number of svools.

To be reliable these can only be obtained on tho spot. Handling fleeces over a board — froni 10 to 50, accord ing to the probabi''' ::->ailabihty of the lot in. question — cutting open the suspiciously heavy packs, or grading roughly on the floor for quality is the customary mode. Fleei-es 'ronx the outside of the pile must stiil be avoided 'facing' by the packers is encouraged on the quiet by some- excellent houses, although the subterfuge would not deceive only the most inexperienced.

A system of recording these Impressions wkh the least possible amount of writing is here offered. A pad or blank book 3in by 2in will suffice. The object is -o avoid the repetition of tedious spelling and the consequent waste of time by submitting numbers: the :ode of numerical equivalents had bettor be committed to memory I was reading the other day in the Textile World 1 Record, and came across tho following items which are factors in deter mining the value of all wool : — 1. Grade 20. Broken fleeces 2. Length 21. Stunt or grease 3. Colour 22. Soil 4. Strength 20. Sand. 5. Grey hairs 24. Heavy dung locks 6. Grey fleeces 25. Discoloxired and 7 Paint burned 8. Care position 26. Low breeches 9. Tar 27. Coa rs c hair! 10. Seed through staple 11. Spesr grass 28 Kemps 11. Shives 29 Hoggets 13. Australian t'nst'es 30 Wether 14. Soft burrs 31. Veinlccks 15. Hard burrs 32 Cotted 16. Spiral burrs 33. Diseased 17. Chaffy bainyaid 34. Soft to the hand litter 35 Corral sweepings 16. SlEal tvwae 3S Pnbs 19- Locks This may be modified to sui, indr idual requirement's. By w ntmg 2 on he left 6ide wf> note that length is lef erred f o. If "sin" follows the 2, we see at a gianoe that the length was three inches Now, if we jot down 3. we are considering colour, but with no degree of whiteness expressed as yet. To write "food ' "fair," "poor,'" would 'no! simplify the matter materially after -all. Again ive cesoro to numbers, using a percentage plan tc denote decrees of the quality expressed. Ihus 3/70 would signify a good average colour, with 3/100 a? perfection of whiteness: 3/40 stamps disapproval upon the lot if wanted for white goods. A little prac'ioe renders Hie thing very oasy.

This is also applied to such charaeter'sties as "soft burrs" in this manner : 14/30 equals a few scattered burrs; 14/80 eqva-is thick wirh soft burrs. This system has the ; nirnense advantage that it s .orally unintelligible to anyone who may :ome across a stray sheet of ycur report. Of course, it were foolish to suppose that all of the 36 points of woois would lie found in each lot — no one growth of wool could possibly embrace them a'l, — but a selection of T be Features most prominent must be made and noted, making the statements as concise and direct as can be in ev«ry ease.

The be«t general hint for the beginner is lever to talk to woolmcn of what 'ie has previously done in a business way The above briefly surveys the leading poiius which beginner* need to carefully observe as the\ embark on this business. G.'owers can also oick up several valuable lessons which can be 4 urned to good account in their daily avocation of wool production. The mo'e perfect a fleece the more ..he leading characteristics are in e-i-dence. and the more likelihood there is of a good price being forthcoming when the wool is sold. E\en when prices weak and there is a partial slump, e^en then che best wool} are never affected in price as the faulty and mfer'or parcels. Besides, it takes no more to produce goo-J saleable fleeces than it does to grow weak, tender-stapled wool, lean tn character and deficient in quality. When a ohv is of good length, sound, shafty, and_ good quality for that -espective class of wool, growers can always depend upon commanding keen ?ompetition and the bes^; prices that are ruling.