78 THE SHEEP AND WOOL INDUSTRY 



line. A spinner can go to a topmaker and buy whatever quality 

 of tops he requires and get them in an even, straight line, whereas 

 if he had to buy the greasy wool and sort it himself he would 

 have a lot of wool which would be unsuitable for the yarns he 

 desires, and so he would have to re-sell the wool that he did not 

 require. The topmaker generally purchases all qualities of wool 

 and sorts it up into large even lines, and as different spinners 

 require different qualities of tops, he has no difficulty in selling 

 them at their market value. The weaver also benefits by this 

 method, as he can go to a spinner and get yarn of any colour or 

 quality he desires. 



TOPS. 



A little information about tops, which in the near future may 

 become one of our very important manufactured exports, will not 

 be out of place. As mentioned before, tops consist of combed 

 wool, the combing removing all the short curly and irregular 

 fibres in the form of noil, and, in addition to the removal of the 

 noil, the remaining long fibres which the top consists of have been 

 straightened out and laid parallel to one another. The qualities 

 which Bradford tops are sorted and combed into vary from 28's 

 to loo's ; in some cases even finer quality tops are sorted from 

 special lots of wool. Length of fibre as well as quality are 

 necessary in a top to enable it to be spun to the number of 

 counts which its quality or the diameter of its fibres denotes. 

 What would be good-length fibres in a 6o's quality top would 

 be so short in a 40*3 top that it would not spin any more than 

 2o's, though it would be a ^o's quality top. This is difficult to 

 define, but it is owing to the way the word " quality " is used. 



For instance, if I had to buy a line of tops for the manufacture 

 of very fine Italian cloth, I would require a top of about yo's 

 quality, consisting of sound fibres possessing a good length. This 

 top should spin the number of counts that its quality denotes, viz., 

 70 hanks of yarn, each hank 560 yards in length, from i Ib. weight 

 of top. In some tops, particularly those combed by the French 

 comb from short, shabby Merino wool, you will find wool of yo's 



