se on the best ranges in Oregon, Montana, and
Wyoming, will average an eight-pound fleece full of natural oil, while
sheep from the more sterile alkaline ranges of New Mexico will not
average much more than five pounds of wool.

The shearing season on the plains is much like the threshing season in
agricultural communities. With a crew of first-class shearers working
in a shearing shed, it is not long until the floor is a sea of wool.
Boys are kept busy picking up the fleeces, tying them into compact
bundles, and throwing them to the men who have been assigned to the
task of filling the wool sacks. These sacks, which hold about 400
pounds, are suspended from a wooden framework, and as fast as the
fleeces are thrown in, they are tramped down until the sacks will not
hold a pound more. Most of the sacks are shipped to warehouses in such
wool centers as Casper, Wyoming, or Billings, Montana, the latter
place being the greatest wool shipping center in the world. Here they
are sold to Eastern buyers, who examine the clips at their leisure and
make their bids.

=Value of Wool Business.= Some idea of the fortunes at stake in the
wool business can be gathered from the fact that the total wool
product of the country in 1909 was valued at $78,263,165. It is
expected that the returns from the wool clip in a fairly good year
will pay all a sheepman's running expenses, such as hire of herders,
cost of shearing, etc. He then has the sale of his lambs as clear
profit. Enormous fortunes are being made in the sheep business in the
west, owing to the high price of wool and mutton.

=Saxony and Silesian Wool.= Among wools of all classes the Saxony and
Silesian take the first place, and for general good qualities,
fineness, and regularity of fiber, they are unequalled. The fiber is
short in staple, possesses good felting properties, and is strong and
elastic. This wool is used chiefly in the manufacture of cloths where
much milling[3] is required, such as superfines and dress-faced
fabrics.

=Australian Wools.= Australia furnishes wools of a superior character,
and some of the choicest clips rival the Saxony and Silesian wools.
They are used both for worsted[4] and woolen yarns. They are generally
strong and of an elastic character, possess numerous serrations, and
are of good color, with good felting properties. The principal
Australian wools are Port Philip, Sydney, and Adelaide wools. These
are the best brands imported from that co