OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2631, 13 October 1909, Page 2

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

SHEEP DIPS AND WOOL GROWING

(From Our Own Correspondent.) BRADFORD, August 27

Wool buyers everywhere during the past five years have shown increasing interest in the question of wool-grow-ing. The Bradford Chamber of Commerce —which is really the mouthpiece of the big wool trade of Worsted opal is —manifesting at times a good deal of concern about the staple being produced as perfect as possible. The question of sheep dips and their relation to the growing staple is undoubtedly a primary one for the sheep breeder, but all the same it is one that affects the wooluser, for a. spoiled wool fibre, to begin with, can never be remedied in any subsequent manufacturing operation. I say unhesitatingly that Australia’s example in wool growing and sheep management can be followed with absolute safety by other sheep farmers in the world, and wliat pactora’.ists of the Commonwealth do tp-day can be adopted to-morrow by every other pastoralist in any quarter of the glebe. I have often wished that sheep farmers in South Africa and the Argentine appreciated their business as do Australian squatters, and' while some are undoubtedly as enthusiastic, yet there are sadly too many who are as indifferent to the claims of tho woo! buyer, and who manifest carelessness in diping their sheep. Sheen dipping is now being recognised as an absolute necessity on all stations. and it is with the object of fanners using the best preparations that will not injure the fleece that causes me to handle this subject. DELETERIOUS MIXTURES.

Wliat concerns the wool trade most is the use of deleterious dipping mixtures, and the rightful use cf those commodities which are going to leave the growing fleece soft, supple, and bloomy. Unfortunately both in South Africa and the Argentine there is to-day being used such objectionable materials as caustic soda and sulphur; lime and sulphur, and tobacco dips-; all of which more or less injure the growing fleece, and which perhaps unknown and undetected by the farmer, lay the foundation for future trouble when the wool eome.s to be scoured, dyed, and the fabrics finished. The writer holds no brief for any sheep dip manufacturer or sheep dip m the world, his only concern being ti at nothing to be done to tho .growing fleece that will beget trouble later on. During the past fortnight I have had occasion to interview some of the largest wool buying and using firms in the world, including combers, spinners, and manufacturers, and there has not been a single house that defended tl;> use of the throe dips named. Caustic soda, and lime and sulphur are strongly objected to on account of their coarching properties and destroying effects Tipon the wool fibres. Anyone can sse that caustic soda and lime are two powerful agents which are bound to have a perishing effect upon such a fine serrated fibre as wool, these two chemicals stripping as it were the outside of tho fibre, and so rendering it weak and r p'We. The# reader may not perhaps know but the outside of the wool fibre presents a serrated appearance just lik-c- a fr* ie fibre itself being .'■..‘cnil of little cells, eacli one of t!, a oufeido of tie wool fii.ro. New c!ion,.ca.s 11,10 caustic soda and lime, have thfi effect of making the outside shrink, until under tho microscope is presents 3 tv 1 til” r f 'o , Ifir ■ lan appearance, ami oven the "veriest novice can see that such a fibre can no more produce a satisfactory fabric than wool from dead sheep. Many years of experience in seeing wool through every stage of manufacture has confirmed tho fact that an injured wool fibre from any cause can never produce goods of a satisfactory nature, for good sound fabrics can only be made from well-grown, healthy wool. VfTTAT THE TRADE APPROVES.

The queston of sheep dips and their influence upon the growing fleece has got beyond the experimental stage, _ it now being possible with comparative certainty and accuracy to be able to state tliat carefully and well made arsenical powder dips in no sense injure the growing fleece, but are on the other hand a direct benefit to the skin of the animal. The writer lias probably spent more money in experiments on this head than any one else in the world and, after thoroughly examining and testing whole fleeoes which have been flock dipped, I am satisfied that sheep that have been dipped either in a carbolic or arsenical powder dip have turned off fleeces as perfect as wool can he grown. This cannot be said with absolute certainty where caustic soda, lime, and sulphur or-tobacco dips have been used. One learns with feelings of regret that the “fly” pest is increasing in Australia, and here again the benefits of using an arsenical powder dip comes in, and is seen above every other class of clip on the market. 1 have always maintained that the fleece of the animal should have about it some self-protect-ion in order that when struck with fly. the eggs of the maggot will not hatch out, and nothing makes the fleece more immune from the curse than when dipoed in a good arsenical powder dip. There is no .doubt that many woolgrowers prefer the use of a good carbolic dip because it soon makes short work of all parasitical life on the sheep. So far so good. Experience has found that this class of preparation does not contain the lasting properties of a good powder dip. hence it is practically no use in affording the sheep any self-pro-tection against further attacks of the maggot fly. It lias always appeared to me hardly worth the tremble and expense of sheep farmers dipping a flock in a carbolic dip when with practical-

ly the same expense a good powder dip could ho used with infinitely more lasting property about it. That, of, course, is a question for wool growers to consider, my only desire being to make the sheep’s life as comfortable as possible, and so give it a fair chance to produce tho best and most saleable fleece possible. I have scoured, dyed, and had finished some of tho most delicate fabrics made from Australia’s finest merino wool that had been dipped in a good powder dip. and in no single operation was there any deficiency seen, the wool working perfectly from first to last. Then again, the highest priced wools both in Australia and London markets have always been dipped in a good proprietary dip of the arsenical order, this being, I Gay, the “hall mark” that the wool was perfectly grown. Above all, I would say. cease using lime and sulphur and caustic soda, the latter if strong enough, being of itself sufficient to soften to a jelly a staple cf wool. Bradford and the entire wool world could never understand why such a highly dangerous commodity as caustic coda should be recommended for use a« >a sheep dip, and to put such a chemical into the hands of sheep farmers is little better than putting fi -e into the hands of a child and saying, “mind and not get burned.” "VVh-m there are well-made arsenical powder dips on the market that will euro sc io and help to grow a perfect fleece, it certainly seem® absurd to use such sngerous ingredients as we have referred to.