194 TEXTILE FIBRES. 



of colonial wool as compared with the user of English. A manufacturer 

 can, and often does, purchase as much wool in London in a single night 

 as would take him a month to buy in Lincolnshire or Shropshire. Very 

 few people, except those having actual experience, have any idea of the 

 vast variety of wool which is to be bought at the London sales. Almost 

 every English sort can be matched there, and where the object to be 

 aimed at is fineness of texture and softness of handle, the London 

 colonial sale is the market to go to ; there the finest grown colonial 

 merinQes are to be met with. At least 75 per cent, of all the merino wool 

 produced is used in the woollen manufacture. 



"In conclusion, it may be remarked in the interests of the wool 

 industries that it is very desirable that more of the wool should reach 

 this country in the grease ; that there should be less scouring of wool in 

 the colonies and elsewhere ; that the user of the wool, the manufacturer, 

 should be the only party to scour the wool ; and that every due regard 

 should always be paid to retaining the natural properties of softness, 

 strength, and lustre by avoiding all use of strong fixed alkalies in scouring 

 and high heat in the drying." The remarks of Mr. Vickerman on the 

 colonial wool trade are of as much importance to-day as they were when 

 first penned. 



There is still abundant scope for energy in developing the vast,, 

 unexploited wool resources of the world. 



Welsh Wool. This is obtained from two Welsh varieties of sheep, 

 known as the mountain and the soft-woolled sheep. Some of the grasses 

 of the mountainous districts are very nutritious, and it is probable that 

 these sheep feed largely on the well-known sheep's Fescue grass (Festuca 

 ovina.) 



The wool from the mountain breed is of a coarser nature than that 

 from the lowlands. The fibres from the soft-woolled sheep are chiefly 

 used in the manufacture of the celebrated Welsh flannel. 



" Wethers " indicates that the wool from a particular sheep is of the 

 second year's clipping. The fibres are of a coarser nature than that of 

 Hog's wool, and such staples are used for a more medium class or counts 

 of yarn, or a coarser kind of woollen material. Wethers are generally 

 good one or two-year-old fleeces. " Yearlings " is another term used for 

 this class of wool. 



Burs and Burry Wool. " Burs " is a general term given to the 

 fruits of certain plants of the Natural Orders Composite and Leguminosse. 

 The plants which produce the burs are not confined to one genus, but 

 include plants of at least two genera. The first is known as Xantliium 

 (Composite), of which there are two distinct species, viz., spinosum and 

 strumaria, or the bur weeds. 



