CHAPTER XXI 

 WOOLS AND WOOL GROWING 



No animal has a covering entirely of wool; even sheep have hair 

 upon the face and lower parts of the legs. Wool ranks next to cotton 

 as a source of textile fabrics, the temperate regions universally using 

 woolen products. The per capita consumption of wool has increased 

 very greatly. It was about 3 pounds in early times in the United 

 States when all spinning and weaving was done in the home; in 1850 

 it was 4 pounds; it is now about 63^ pounds. No other people use as 

 much wool as do Americans, nor as much cotton. The world's clip of 

 wool averages about 2 pounds for each person. 



As a rule, sheep are shorn only once a year. The coming of mild 

 weather in the spring marks the time of shearing. Both hand and 

 machine shearing are practiced, preferably the latter. As the wool is 

 sheared off it is usually kept in one piece so far as possible, and as soon 



Fig. 106. — Wool fiber highly magnified. This drawing shows the scaly surface 

 of the wool fiber; the tips of the overlapping scales project outward and point toward 

 the tip of the fiber. 



as the fleece is removed it is spread out, with the flesh or cut side down, 

 any loose pieces are thrown into the center, and the fleece is then rolled 

 up with the flesh side out and is tied with twine. Prior to shipment 

 the fleeces are packed in large sacks, in which condition they arrive at 

 the various wool markets of the country. 



Growth and structure. — Wool is modified hair. The term hair is 

 ordinarily used to designate a smooth, straight fiber or filament like 

 horse hair. Wool differs from hair in being more or less crimped and 

 in having a much more serrated or ridged surface. The surface of 

 the fiber is composed of a single layer of irregular, overlapping scales, 

 apparent only under the microscope, forming the wool cuticle, there 

 being from 1,200 to 3,000 exposed points of these scales to an inch. 

 The scales open or point toward the tip of the fiber, like shingles put 

 on the wrong way. Beneath the covering of scales is the cortex or 

 body of the fiber, made up of greatly elongated cells united into bundles, 



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