GRADES AND GRADING OF MOHAIR.
In Turkey, after the fleece is shorn, the owner packs each fleece separately in sacks. He picks out the tag locks, colored fleeces or objectionable mohair, and after washing it, or making it more fit for market, he packs this in a sack by itself. Every village has its buyers, usually Greeks or Armenians, and there are a few traveling buyers. These men gradually collect the mohair. Men who have more money than they need put that money into mohair, as mohair is always salable, and it is so bulky that there is not much danger of it being stolen. There are so many robbers in Turkey that nothing is absolutely safe. One coffee house keeper in a small village sent about six dollars down to a larger place, as he was afraid to keep so much money in his house. When the mohair is collected in the larger towns it is again sorted, care being taken not to mix lots from different sections of the country. It is then forwarded to Constantinople of Ismidt, which is on the Sea of Marmara, near Constantinople. Here expert sorters go over the lots again. They do not break up the fleece, but they collect fleeces which are about the same and from the same district—for instance, Beibazar, Kjutiah, Kastamonia, Eskischehr, etc. These fleeces are then packed in bags and marked x - xx - xxx, or lettered a, b, AA, or numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. The mohair is then ready for exportation. It can be readily seen that a manufacturer who wants a particular kind of mohair can get exactly what he wants, if he knows the kind of mohair which comes from the different districts, and the grade of mohair which is put up under a certain mark by a certain firm. He can order of Mr. B. one hundred bags XX Beibazar mohair, and he knows what he is going to find when he opens the bags. There is a large room in Constantinople where a gang of men are almost constantly at work sorting mohair. The commission men have their store rooms around this central room; when the sorters finish with Mr. A's lot they commence to sort for Mr. B. Thus the same men sort all the mohair, and this insures a uniformity of grade.
In America the plan of handling is somewhat different. It will be easier to tell what should be done than what is done. Until each grower becomes something of an expert sorter, or until we have central depots, where the mohair can be properly graded, the grower should roll the fleeces separately; they should not be tied, and put them in a bag or bale. He should pick out the tag locks, mohair discolored or clotted with urine or fæces, the colored fleeces, burry mohair or very kempy fleeces, and after preparation, put them in a separate parcel. Any kind of a bur or seed which sticks in the mohair must be picked out by hand. If the manufacturer has to do this, he puts a price on the mohair which will leave him plenty of margin. That is, he pays the grower about one-half as much as the mohair would be worth if it were free from this foreign material. If the mohair is very burry, it has to be treated chemically, and this spoils the luster. Sometimes the grower can make good wages by having the burs picked out before the animals are shorn. One man can pick the burs out of from fifteen to twenty-five animals a day, if there are not too many burs in the mohair. If the tag locks can be cleaned sufficiently by washing, they are of some value; but if not, they are hardly worth the expense of shipping.
The mohair shorn from kids should be kept in parcels by itself, as it is usually finer and worth top prices. That of the does, if it differs from that of the wethers, should be packed separately. When the mohair is received by the mill it is sent to the sorting room.