84 Wool and its Growth. 



followed by la.ck of yolk and lack of lustre in wool, 

 although overfeeding 1 produces an over-supply of yolk. 

 Abundant feeding is for mutton production; good wool, 

 health and constitution are better for feeding enough. 

 Where there is exposure to much rain the function of 

 yolk is diverted by being washed out of the fleece or into 

 a pasty mass which clots, stains, reduces lustre, and 

 depreciates the value of the fleece. While this is happen- 

 ing the general condition, including the mutton quali- 

 ties of the animal, suffers, and it directs attention to the 

 need there is for some description of shelter from fre- 

 quent storms. Longwool sheep are more prone to mat- 

 ting of the wool, and the maintenance of lustre is an 

 important factor in long wool ; it is a manufacturer's 

 requirement, just as he looks for crimp and serrations in 

 short felting wool. The close, shield-like protection 

 from the ingress of wet of the short, dense-woolled breeds 

 makes them less disposed to matting of fleece. There is 

 a cousinship between the best mutton parts of a sheep 

 and good wool and yolk ; where the best mutton is on 

 the sheep there is found the best wool and the largest 

 quantity of yolk. Deficiency of yolk in wool may be 

 noted by the want of softness and pliancy in the touch 

 and lack of brilliance in the lustre. 



Wool is used for the manufacture of clothing, 

 termed carding, and the manufacture of worsteds, 

 termed combing. Wool that is short, crimpy and well 

 serrated is invariably preferred for the carding or cloth 

 making, the longer sorts of over two or three inches 

 invariably for the worsted or combing. Shortly, the 

 carding process takes the shape of breaking and dividing 

 the wool fibres into many pieces, and intermixing them 

 prior to consolidating them by pressure into a felted 

 mass of cloth. The serrations or scales on the wool fibre, 

 which are so numerous on the shorter wools, aid largely 

 towards this felting, for they interlock one into another. 

 In worsted making the process is one of combing, laying; 



