THE YEOMAN.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 45, 11 November 1867, Page 3

THE YEOMAN.

THE FARM AND STATION. Weight and Value of Wool Obtained under the New Mode of SlieepWashihg. We purpose now going somewhat innately into details as to the relative weights and valhe of fleeces Obtained after the different modes Of washing. With the value of wool in the grease we have nothing to do, as anyone With water .enough to wash his sheep must be convicted of bad management if he sends his Woof to port in : that state; but We must take the weight as a basis, and see how much of this is lost during the process of cleansing. When sheep are well washed, according to the 'Old system, in ft river or large wacerhole, or brook-washed, as the terra is, the proportion of dirt and yolk washed out is Usually estimated

at 30 per cent. The won!-scourers mostly calculate on an average loss of od per cent., the reduction in weight bring sometimes as mcch as 70 per cent, on very dirty, and on wool ■light in the grease of 50 per cent. But when the Messrs. Winter set up their woolscouring machinery at Colbinalhyn they found, after many carefully conducted trials and weighings, that the average loss with then; was about 41), or say 50 per cent. Homo of their sheep were clean and some dirty, after running on the dry plains of which much of their run:; consist, so that the results arrived at by them may well be taken as a guide in calculation* of this sort. The wool-scourers would make the loss appear to be greater ; but in the firs;, place they get the dirtiest lots of wool to wash for the public, and in making their own purchases they are interested in representing the loss to be greater than it really is. Besides at, too many of the establishments on the hanks of running streams there is an actual loss of wool, while with a machine there can hemmci Therefore, looking to all these special reasons and one or two more we could mention, wo have no right to consider that wool scoured on the sheep’s backs with plenty of soap and soda can loose more than 50 per cent, in weight. .None of the wool can'be washed away unless the sheep are diseased, and the wool is -never so dry, even if shorn immediately, as that scoured fitter shearing. Then two or three days arc always allowed between washing and shearing, during which the yolk rises and adds to the weight, so that 45 per cent, would 1 o probably a more correct allowance to make. Thus, when we said the loss of weight was only up per cent,, more than in the case of wool well washed in cold water, we were quite within the mark. Even with bad brook washing the wool loses at least 25 per cent,, so that the allowance is quite enough to include the best and worst mode.

And as to the soap-and-soda-washed wool being worth more than the hrookc-washcd l.y Is. a pound, that it is fully. As ‘ far as wo have received accounts of the'sales'of last dip, wool so got up has mostly fetched from is. Gd. to three shillings per pound, a few bales even as ihuch as Bs. lid., while the ordinary washed wool has been selling at from Is. (Id. to is.— little of it above the latter price. It will lie probably be objected that the wool got up in the best manner was also'the best, and doubtless it included a few of our very best clips; but the wool of many first-rate flocks conies under the second category, and this may he taken to form the exceptions above 25., wiii’o ’the best clips of soap-washed wool form the exceptions above 3s. per pound, leaving a fair average difference of at least Is. in favour of the first mentioned. A glance over the account sales will convince anyone acquainted with the brahds that this is not too high an estimate. The great loss ot weight in proportian to the increase of value was one of the first objections made to the new mode 'of washing, and this was One of the questions our special reporter endeavoured to set at rest during his excursion last year to the stations of the principal breeders of merinos about Skipton and farther west. In his account Messrs. Cummings sheep, and mode of getting up their wool, he then wrote:—

“And this mode of washing does not reduce the weight of the wool so much as is commonly supposed, or else that these sheep produce very heavy fleeces, is proved by (lie average weight obtained. Great interest is felt on this point, and Mr William Camming very kindly gave me particulars of the weight of his clip,’and the-money returns obtained for it last year, for the information of the public The number of sheep shorn by him was 18,118 and of lambs 7,209, and the average weight of wool from both was 2lbs 1 ;!oz. per head." This realized 2s. lOd. per lb. all round, locks and pieces included, so that the average' Money return per bead was Bs., all but the fraction of a penny. Eight shillings a head -is a splendid return from both sheep and lambs, -especially when the number of the latter is so large, and does not make it appear flint spontwasliing can be an unprofitable inode of getting up'wool. This return is not given because it was better than those from the other three stations, but because it was the first asked for, and all are so much alike in results that one Only was heeded.”

One of our correspondents objects that the processes a slow one, only adapted for small stations. Pew things can be done very well and very quickly at the same time'; hut even at the worst the process of washing is more than'that of shearing, and there is now no scarcity of men for either kind of work. About 400 sheep a day can he washed under cadi spoilt, and to get through this amount oifwork five men are required, or nine men for two spouts, Uut'the number will he considerably reduced when the washing-places arc not so constructed that the men at the spouts have to stand in casks, and, therefore to remain idle half their time. This alteration can be easily made, and with others quite, possible, 'three men will be able to do as much as tour now. No more sheep should bo washed in a day than can be shorn in the same space of time, as the wool must be kept clean, ami the gang of washers kept employed every day, as well a-i the shearers. , Tims four” spouts Would he enough for the largest station, as ho more than 1,600 sheep would ever have to be shorn in one shed during the day, and the number of men required to shear and pick up the fleeces of so many would be double that required to wash them. No estimate of the cost of a. washing-place 'could he ihade for any station without seping the grooud, and couseqiu-nlh-,'thc natural conveniences or inconveniences'; but when trying to prove before that the steam-engine, and centrifugal pump can he used advantageously for spout washing where a reservoir cannot lie cheaply constructed or filled, we stated the cost of an engine and pump able to supply four, o’r even six, spouts would be £605. This includes an iron tank, which it would scarcely he advisable to cart very fur up the country, unless to a district in which timber is very scarce; but the baler of a portable engine would not be able to supply steam to heat the water in 'the soaking-pen, although if a fixed engine was to he used for this purpose, the boiler should he large enough to bent the wafer for both sheep and engine. If the settler will, only call in the mech n'e ami machine-maker to his aid, there is.not a station in.the country with wafer enough on it Where the new system of washing cannot be carried oh, and most profitably too. If if pare; to wash sheep badly, and save the cost of carrying the di.it to market, it will pay much better to leave all the dirt behind, aiid scud the wool in the lightc t and best condition. Let every sheedowncr aim at obtaining an average of Bs. a fleece, even if he has to commence by selling half his nm ami 20,000 ofhis 40,000 sheep.—“ Australasian.”