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 faeces, 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.