PACKING WOOL.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 424, 1 November 1876, Page 3

PACKING WOOL.

The time for shearing sheep will vary with the state of the season and the condition of the animal, bnt it is important that the operation should be performed before the new coat has grown suffici -ntly to be injured by the shears. Tbejieece having been washed and clipped, the next operation requiring attention is the rolling, as fleeces, if put up in a loose and careless manner, are easily broken and injured. The storing of the wool is also of importance. If kept in a dry, close place, it will increase in weight, and not deteriorate in quality. If loosely and confusedly packed, the fleeces will come out broken and bruised, and thereby cause a great deal of trouble in sorting, and even when sorted they will never re-assume the natural appearance they had before being rolled and packed. It is the readiest way for growers to obtain the highest prices for their wool, to be particularly attentive to its management in all the different stages of washing, clipping, rolling, storing, and packing. Besides being a thorough judge of the washing and management of wool in every respect, after being taken from *the sheeps’backs, a wool-stapler can judge whether the sheep whose wool he inspects has been well or ill-fed, and indicate the defect at first sight, although it may not be perceptible to another person, not a judge of wool. If sheep have at any time during summer, winter, or spring been pinched for food, even for a few days the staple of the fleece becomes weakened at the very place where its growth has been checked for want of the requisite nourishment. The defective place may be detected by the experienced eye, but by anyone taking the staple by the ends, and giving it a sharp pull asunder, it may certainly be detected by its breaking or drawing out smaller at every place or places where the nourishment was wanting when those places were next the skin. To preserve uniformity of strength in the staple, there must be uniformly good feeding.