5)x NOV <
9
VOL. XXTTT.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, NOV, 10,1888.
NO. 45
Packing Foreign and American Wools.
Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 30,1888.
Mr. Jno. B. Conner, Pres. Indiana
Farm eb Co. :
Your favor of the 22d Is received -with
enclosures in reference to the manner in
which American wool growers put np
their wool as compared with that practised by Australian wool growers.
The most important growers in Australia shear their wools unwashed, and
while the fleece is on the folding table
they trim off the inferior portion consisting of the short pieces from the legs and
bellies, and only the clear valuable part of
the fleece with little or no twine upon it
is packed in the bale. The pieces are
baled separately. The best of the fleece is
the wool which the American manufacturers prefer in its unwashed condition
rather than the same grade of Ohio fleece
washed. The reason for that preference
is because the scoured cost is the same in
both cases with the advantage on the side
of the Australian scoured that it is free of
the leg and belly pieces and consequently
li more valuable than the Ohio which has
those pieces included. We recently saw a
bale of the choicest Australian opened,
snd the fribs and leg pieces in the entire
bale, (the whole bale weighing 450 lbs.)
would hardly fill a tin cup, while it is
frequently the case that the same quantity of fribs or unwashed stuffing from
dead sheep is to be found rolled inside of
the single Ohio washed fleece.
Many of our farmers think they are entitled to sell as washed wool everything
which grows upon - the sheep beside an
abundance of twine which is worthless to
the manufacturer although he is obliged
to pay for it as wool. Itis a difficult matter
to make growers understand why Australian unwashed wool costs the American manufacturer no more than the same
pade of Ohio fleece washed wool when
scoured. Australian unwashed free from
Pieces costing 33 cents and shrinking 50
Per cent—costs 66 cents per pound scoured
clean. That is all the best part of the
Isece. Ohio fleece washed at 33 cents,
which is the top of the market to-day,
'blinking 50 per cent—costs 66 cents
'wared, but that includes the leg and
foUy pieces which by themselves would
°% be worth 50 cents clean and as 10 per
Mat of the American fleece consists of
these leg and belly pieces worth only 50
per cent clean, it makes the valuable portion of the fleece which is equal to Australian cost 67)4 cents clean as against 66
^"ts for the Australian. There are in
Australia many flDCk masters who roll
pieces   inside    of    the  fleeces   in
the
ta American method, and such lots
u at prices correspondingly lower
I    the choice wools which are free from
Peces. At the London auctions each
'P Is catalogued  and  the buyers judge
J?ely of the condition by the num-
* of separate bales of pieces.
°°9 tenth of the lot is pieces, it is sup-
m that the choice wocl ta freo of them
J*8'Corresponding price Is paid for it.
showed an extensive operator in Aus-
lar* WOOlB in Bra(l»ord, England, a
j8» and handsome pile of Ohio finede-
,„."• lts beautiful and showy condition
0( sBtmncl fibre called forth exclamations
sUchlri>ri8e toat Amerlca could produce
la ..i,?001'   He had heard of the manner
Wool       8°me °' our ,armers Pnt UP tbelr
hand and w«w not prepared to see such
88ece fm9 St0Ck* We out the strings of »
11 &d I hlmand found rolled inside of
"nwaaiT8 handf ul of te»looks and d«ad
"Ofraah16a' the 8rower hoping to sell his
bellevi Woolat the Price for bia cashed,
*6U on"8 that tno sma11 amount was so
coVer??oeal6d that it would not be dis-
^mmi UntU U reached the mill. After
the j n^th«» inferior wool from the fleece
**««« merchant observed that if
08,1 wools were put up with the
same care as the best Australians, it would
be the most desirable wool in the world,
and that while much of it was as fine as
the finest Australian, the whole of it was a
great deal stronger than any that could be
found in Australia. There are many parts
of the world where tag locks and fribs are
rolled inside of unwashed fleeces, but such
wools bring correspondingly lower prices
than tho Australian which is better
handled. Dating the panic of 1857,
one of tho leading houses in
the United States shipped some of
the handsomest Ohio fine fleece wool to
London,'as there was no immediate sale
for it at that time in this country. Sample
baUs were placed with different English
and Continental manufacturers, but when
they discovered the inferior qualities rolled
inside of the fleeces they could not be induced to buy, and the wool was finally
ent back to this country. We have never
since heard of any important effort being
made to sell American wool abroad
Australia at present produces double
the amount of scoured wool that is pro
ducod in the United States, and we are
informed that country is capable of raising four times the quantity now produced
there. The present crop of Australia is
500,000,000 lbs. If this estimate is correct,
Australia can profitably raise 2,000,000,000
lbs. The growors of the United States
have to compete with this wool, and If the
present protection of 10 cents per pound
is retained, wool growing in this country
may hold its own, but with the removal
of that protection, the probabilities are
that wool growing will cease to be an important industry here with the exception
of such wool as is raised from mutton
sheep where the growth of mutton is the
object.
The greatest menace to wool growing in
this ccuntry at the present time, is in the
admission of so-called carpet wool at the
low duty of *\y_ cents per pound. In many
parts of the world where only extremely
coarse wools were raised for carpets they
have been improved by the introduction
of English and Merino breeds, so that
while the wool is still classified as carpet
wool the fleeces are of a soft pliable quality and capable of being manufactured into clothing and blankets. It is estimated
that CO per cent of the finer grades of wool
which is imported as carpet paying only
2J4 cents per pound duty, is really clothing wool and is used in the manufacture
of clothing and blankets. That quality of
wool competes with the average wools of
Indiana and Kentucky. A number of
mills in this locality and others in Kentucky and Indiana which formerly used
Indiana and Kentucky wools exclusively,
are now manufacturing clothing and
blankets from improved foreign wools
imported under the carpet duty. This is
notably the case in Eastlndia wools which
have been improved by the introduction
of English and Merino breeds. Cordova
wool from South America is another class
specified in the tariff law of 1867 ss carpet
wool which has so far improved by the
introduction of Merino blood that a large
percentage of it is now capable of beiDg
manufactured into clothing.
At the late Wool Conference in Wash
ington, a prominent carpet manufacturer
stated that the percentage of carpet wools
used for clothing purposes was insignificant, but there was present at the convention a manufacturer who had just purchased of the other manufacturer a large
quantity of carpet wool imported by the
latter as such, which was being manufactured into clothing, and the same manufacturer stated that he was also using
Salonica wool, which is a foreign carpet
wool, 75 per cent of which he was manufacturing into cheap cheviots which were
being retailed at a cost of only 159 per suit.
Wool growing in the United State is diminishing at a rapid rate in sections east
of the Missouri river mainly, and in our
opinion it is owing to the fact that so
called carpet wools are being improved in
quality in other parts of the world and
are coming to this country in Buch quantities that they take the place of what are
known as common American wools, such
as come from the best breeds of American
mutton sheep. Yours truly,
Justice, Bateman A Co.
The Public Highways.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
How can we arrange to have our work
and money judiciously expended upon
the public highways? Hundreds, yes,
thousands of dollars are annually thrown
away, many times worse than thrown
away.   Let me illustrate a little.
A supervisor was elected who favored
narrow grades, and made at such a one in
in the middle of a sixty foot road, which
gave the public a chance to travel at
the sides for a time. A successor wanted a wide grade and plowed ditches
near the road line filling the ditches made
by the former officer, but made such a
miserable grade that it was years before
the road was as good as it was before
either spent an hour on it; another supervisor conceived theideaof carrying the water along the road for over one-fourth of a
mile, when the natural course was around
through a field. Although he had assurance that the ditch would be cut through
the field without expense to the district,
ho expended $48.50 in road work on it,
about one-third completing the job for a
time, and proving it was not practical to
complete it. The same man built a second culvert where there was no outlet to
take the water from the first.
Another supervisor is hauling a very
poor article of sand in whioh fully one-
third is muck, about one mile, dumping
it on aline he knows will be removed in
the near future, Jikely in the spring. No
sane man would think of doing such
a job for himself, but this is for the
public. Now those things are within the
limits of some two miles, and much yet
to relate.
Thus I might continue indefinitely. It
is no use to write about grading being
done late in the fall, making roads many
times worse than if not disturbed, the
dirt being dumped in piles to be blundered over for years, the culverts being
either above or below the grade, etc.
Every man that travels the road knows
how frequently such things are met with.
But what is the remedy. Men who are
elected township trustees may be as ignorant on those subjects as a school boy, yet
their rulings are nearly supreme, and
what assurance have we if left to county
surveyors, or county commissioners, it
would be any better?
Those having any light on this important subject will do the public a kindness
by letting it shine through the Indiana
Farmer.
Hoosikr.
Flax Raising-.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I have been raising flax for the seed for
the last 25 years, and taking it at an average it has been just as remunerative a crop
as any of the cereals. Slim crops do not
occur any oftener than with oats or wheat,
and as far as exhausting the soil, I've
not found it any more exhaustive than
wheat, and not near so hard on the soil as
oats. In fact, I think oats get away with
the soil the fastest of any small grain. It
is a voracious feeder, and soon exhausts
the elements necessary to the growth of
other cereals; whereas flax improves the
soil element for the production nt wheat
or clover. On cold clammy soil I have
never found anything better to enliven
and mellow it up, than a flax crop. The
hardest cloddy ground yields to the disintegrating influence of the flax root and be
comes like a garden bed. Another thing
I've observed, that ground subject to the
wire worm or the corn beetle, if sown in
flax is cleared of these pests completely.
There seems to be no insect that preys on
flax except the grasshopper, which sometimes cut the panicle which holds the boles,
and they drop,to the ground. This is a
rare circumstance, however, not happening more than twice in all theyoars of my
flax raising experience. I've tried foreign
flax seed, but never could get it to grow
tall enough to save, and I have discarded
all Russian or Swedish flax seed, and
take clean American seed, with pure native seed, well cleaned throngh the fan
until all the inferior soed is winnowed
out. The product will be a superior grade,
which, if sown on good soil, at the rate of
three-fourths of a bushel to the acre insures a good crop of seed nine times out
of ten years. D. M.
Newton, 111.
 .    ♦    s	
THANKSGIVING  DAY.
The President Officially Proclaims it to
be Thursday, the 29th Inst.
Washington, November 2.—The President has issued the following proclamation:
Constant thanksgiving and gratitude are
due from the American people to Almighty
God for His goodness and mercy which
have followed them since the day He made
them a Nation and vouchsafed to them a
free government. With loving kindness
He has constantly led us in the way of
prosperity and greatness. He has not
visited with swif c punishment our shortcomings, but with gracious care he has
warned us of our dependence upon His
forbearance, and has taught us that obedience to His holy la w is the price of a continuance of His precious gifts. In ao-
knowldcment of all that God has done
for us as a Nation, and to the end that on
an appointed day the united prayers and
praise of a grateful country may reach
the throne of grace, I, Grover Cleveland,
President of the United States, do hereby
designate and set apart Thursday,the 29th
day of November, instant, as a day of
thanksgiving and prayer, to be kept and
observed throughout the land. On that
day let all our people suspend their ordinary work and occupations, and in their
accustomed places of worship, with
prayer and songs of praise,render thanks to
God for all His mercies-for the abundant
harvests which have rewarded the toil of
the husbandman during the year that has
passed, and for the rich rewards that have
followed the labors of our people in their
shops and their marts of trade and traffic.
Let us give thanks for peace and for social
order and contentment w ithin our borders,
and for our advancement in all that adds
to National greatness.
And, mindful of the afflictive dispensation with which a portion of our land has
been visited, let us, while we humble ourselves before the power of God, acknowledge His mercy in setting bounds to the
deadly march of pestilence, and let our
hearts be chastened by sympathy with our
fellow-countrymen who have suffered and
who mourn. And as we return thanks
for all the blessings which we have received from the hands of our Heavenly
Father, let us not forget that He has enjoined upon us charity; and on this day
of thanksgiving let us generously remember the poor and needy, so that our tribute
of praise and gratitude may be acceptable
in the sight of the Lord.
Done at the ty of Washington on the
1st day of November, 1888, and in the year
of independence the one hundred and
thirteenth. In witness whereof I have
hereunto signed my name and caused the
seal of the United States to be affixed.
By the President:
Groveb Cl.EVEI.ANI),
T. F. Bayabd, Secretary of State,