VESTITURE. 475 



seed, short staple, or upland cotton, which was of little value before 

 the invention of the saw gin ; but is now the most abundant product. 

 The nankeen cotton, so named from its natural nankeen color, is a 

 short staple, used only for coarse and domestic manufactures. 



In Arkwright's machinery, the cotton, after being picked or batted 

 into a light, uniform mass, and then twice carded, once in the breaker, 

 and once in the finisher, comes from the latter in continuous rolls, 

 called card ends ; which next pass through the drawing frame, 

 between two pairs of rollers, the second turning more rapidly than 

 the first, by which the ends are drawn out in length. Several of 

 them are then united to form a sliver, or untwisted rope, of many 

 strands ; which, passing through the roving frame, or double speeder, 

 is again drawn and slightly twisted ; forming a loose, imperfect 

 thread, called roving. This is transferred to the spinning frame, 

 where it is again drawn and twisted, to form a perfect thread. In 

 Crompton's Mule, or mule jenny, the thread is farther stretched, 

 after leaving the rollers, by the spindles being moved backward, while 

 twisting, and thus producing a more even thread. Of the power 

 loom, now used for weaving, we can only say that it performs all 

 the requisite motions, with such steadiness and uniformity, as to 

 make better cloth than can possibly be woven by hand. 



Cotton cloth is usually bleached by the moist application of chlo- 

 rine, evolved from chloride of lime, called bleaching powder. Calico 

 printing, is performed by passing the cloth over engraved copper 

 cylinders, the incised figures or hollowed parts of which, contain the 

 pastelike coloring matter ; while, from the raised and polished 

 parts, the color is scraped away, as the cylinder turns. For adjective 

 colors, which will not adhere without a mordant or basis, the cloth 

 is first printed with the mordant, and then dipped in the dye ; which 

 is afterwards washed out from the other parts. Madder, and logwood, 

 give a black dye with salts of iron, but a red dye with a mordant of 

 acetate of alumina. Of cotton fabrics, muslins are named from Mosul ; 

 and calicoes, from Calicut; places formerly celebrated for their 

 manufacture. In England, white, or unprinted cotton cloth is called 

 calico : but we give this name to printed cotton, having not more 

 than two colors ; and cotton cloth with, more than two colors, we 

 call chintz. The name muslin, we apply only to the finest cotton 

 cloths ; and gauze, differs from it, only in being still finer, and 

 loosely woven, making it open, or transparent. 



3. The Woolen Manufacture, has also been greatly promoted 

 by the modern improvements in spinning and weaving machinery. 

 Wool, is selected according to its softness, fineness, color, and 

 regularity of curling ; which curling enables it to yield in length, 

 and hence, like cotton, to be spun mechanically. The short, fine, 

 and curly wool, is used for broadcloths, flannels, and other fabrics 

 which require fulling to thicken them : and the long, straight wool, 

 or worsted, is used for camlets, bombazines, and similar fabrics. 

 The wool, by carding, is formed into small cylindrical rolls ; which 

 are stretched and spun, first in a stubbing, or roving machine, and 

 afterwards in a mule jenny, as in the case of cotton. The weaving, 

 is mostly done by machinery ; and the fulling, for broadcloths and 



