HINTS ABOUT WOOL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8151, 29 May 1906, Page 7

HINTS ABOUT WOOL.

Some "practical noteß" on merino and crossbred wools are published in a London paper. The writer says:— •' "Every user ot tne raw material knows that the tetter the staple the more sound and saleable will be the manufactured article. Some Bradlord spinners show a strong prejudice for good, long Adelaide wools, and daring tho late drought some difficulty was experienced in rinding stook sufficiently sound in character to meet the requirements of the user. The result was that increasing attention was paid tj New Zealand wools, their spinning property being very well known. A top oombed out of tender, mushy, wool is bound to be correspondingly short, as well as deficient in style, colour, strength and condition. Plenty of topmakers I could name a few years baok, when the Australian drought held sway, and some most unpleasant experi ences, not a little loos having to be encountered. This is one of those thinga which neither wool-growers nor top-makers have the least control over, while no compensation is offered in any other direotion to reooup the losses entailed when handling badly grown and tender wools. There is all the difference in the world to a spinner between wool that has been starved, for the cells of the latter become so shrivelled as to possess little elasticity, and the spinning property being gone causes the fibre to break under the strain. This is one of those things of whloh only those who have had experience know the disadvantages —having to handle tender, lifeless wools; and tbe difference between the raw material this season aud, say, two years ago, is indeed great. The whole principle of wool-grow-ing seems to me to revert to the stomach of the sheep, and the same being filled with good, nutritious food. Like everything else, even a sheep cannot do the work nature designed without its productive capacity being adequately supported by a rioh pasture. "Some concern is manifested in certain manufacturing quarters about the growing scarcity of New Zealand merino wools, croßsbreda 'bossing the show.' This is for some things rather to be regretted, but growers will undoubtedly continue to produce that which pays them best. At the same time it is to be siuoerely hoped that fine wools will not disappear, these serving a most useful purpose, and are prime favourites with some manufacturers. In the case of New Zealand merinos we don't often find a tender grown staple, and it ha 9 been frequently remarked among buyers that they very seldom indeed find among New Zealand wools any lack of vitality in the staple. Practical woolmen know that New Zealand wools, if anything, are unusually extra heavy in grease or yolk, and it is one of the inherent characteristics of a good, greasy fleeoe that it is nearly always sound in staple. I should say that New Zealand wools, both merino and crossbred, can hold their own against all comers on this one point, though it is right to say that Victorian and Tasmanian wools are also very sound indeed. Now, because of their soundness, they are often mixed with fjboth South Australia and Queensland in producing CO's tops, New Zealand merinos acting the part ot 'throuphs' when the blend is composed of something more short, tender and mushy. Then, too, the total freedom from burr is another satisfactory feature abou"; New Zealand wools, which cannot be said of any Commonwealth wools, unless it be Queensland. West Riding woollen oloth manuf aoturres are very much prejudiced in favour of New Zealand merinos, on account of the cleanness of the staple when scoured, and a less quantity of New Zealand wool is carbonized than any other wool grown in Australasia or South America. Even in the fact of manufacturers being liable to destroy weeds, burrs, and other vegetable matter should not make growers careless about these objectionable elements being found in the wools, for the principle still holds good that the olaener the wool the better tbe price, extracting always causing wool to perish a little in lustre and strength. On every hand New Zaeland wools are to-day in excellent demand, if there is any character at all about them; and the few points mentioned are still well worth the consideration of those growing and handling these wools.

"In orossbreds we have a totally different article to consider, for here there is something more tangible and solid to face the ordeal which every flbri of wool has to endare before it reaches the finished fabric, says the authority. Crossbred wools are heavier in the fibre and more bulky in circumference than are merinos, hence the two classes oau only be dealt with separately, and put to the special purpose for which they are fitted. In the case of orossbreds we find them going largely to produce heavy bulky materials, but at the same time pre-sent-day machinery has verj extensively enabled manufacturers to produce some very fashionable materials, which are bulking largely in the garb of both men and women. There is no doubt that pressure of ciroumstanoes has to a large extent been the cause of orossbreds coming to the front, but whether or not they are to stay for an indefinite period it is hard to Bay. There is little doubt that wools ranging from 40's to 50' a quality will come to the front and remain there till merinos become more plentiful and cheaper; but lam rather inclined to think that the general publio this last twelve months has had such a taste for crossbred-made fabrics that they will continue their patronage for some little time to come. Nobody can dispute the usefulness of orossbred wools. Ihey are to-day supplying the million with some very fashionable and cheap garments, and everything points to these qualities remaining, firm and Bound."