THE VALUE OF WOOL.

Southland Times, Issue 903, 21 February 1868, Page 3

THE VALUE OF WOOL.

(From a Home Paper.) How much the value of wool still guides that of the animal which supplies it, appears plainly enough notwithstanding exceptional maxima, from a comparison of the prices which have ruled this year at autumnal ram sales with those of 1866. "When Bakewell undertook the improvement of the Leicester she p, [his attention was directed almost exclusively to its carcase — to the placing and the thickening of the flesh upon the choicest joints — and to the quickening of the fattening process : so that now the food which a well-bred sheep consumes is converted into mutton four or five tim s as fast as it was a century ago. The wool thus became a less important consideration than it used to be ; the sheep was formerly not ripe till three or four years old, and three or four fleeces were obtained for every carcase ; but Bakewell ripened it at 14 months, after it has borne but one. That fleece has of late been so much more valuable, however, than it was, that it has latterly regained Bomewhat of its former inflnence on the value of the animal; and the close-grained quality of Southdown mutton has not sufficed to hinder the depreciation due to its scanty, short-wooled coat ; nor has the coarser character of the flesh of Cotswolds and of Lincolns prevented an extraordinary ris<3 in price due to their long and heavy fieece. "When wool was worth half-a-crown a pound, and especially when certain wools became available as substitutes for that of the Alpaca in the manufacture of what are called Lustre goods, no wonder that those breeds which yield a fleece of 10 or 12 lb. weight, and wool remarkable for its bright and lustrous character, acquired the highest reputation and commanded the highest prices in the market. And now that such wools have gone back to 16 and 18 pence per lb., no wonder that prices have this year very seriously receded. The Lincoln breed has exhibited this contrast more seriously than any other, just because its wool commanded the very highest price last year. So heavy are Lincoln fleeces that in one instance, as Mr J. A. Clarke told them at the Eoyal Agricultural College, 257 weighed 117 tods, and in another 5829 fleeces weighed 1100 tods, or from 11 to 12£ lb. per fleece ; and so fine and bright is the wool, that 201 b. of it worked up with cotton Buflices to give the necessary lustre, 12 pieces of Alpaca goods, each 42 yards in length ! Certainly the owners of the best flocks have had reason to congratulate themselves on the reputation they had thus acquired. And thus it was that last year Mr T. Erkham sold 80 shearling rams for an average price of £16 14s. a piece ; 26 2-shear sheep at £14 9a. each ; and 44 3-Bhear sheep at £26 apiece. On€ of these old sheep realised 100 gunieas, having the previous year been let foi £135, and, as a shearling the year before, for no less than £160. To" name twe other ram sales of last autumn — MrDavj sold 135 shearlings at £12 9s. Sd. each, and Mr Chaplain 40 at £15 6s. This year we do not hear of such enormous prices. Mr Kirkham, or "Warkby, has indeed realised £12 a-piece, and Mr T. Casswell, of Pointon, sold 50 for no less than £15 10, each ; but at Peterborough lair the demand was far beneath the supply, although there were only 582 sheep on the ground, against 867 in 1865,