298 Public Establishment for 



pounds weight of wool received from the magazine, 

 is from hence determined. 



The great secret of the woollen manufactory is in the 

 sorting of the wool, and if this is not particularly at- 

 tended to ; that is to say, if the different kinds of wool 

 of various qualities which each fleece naturally contains 

 are not carefully separated, and if each kind of wool is 

 not employed for that purpose, and for that alone, for 

 which it is best calculated, no woollen manufactory can 

 possibly subsist with advantage. 



Each fleece is commonly separated into five or six 

 different parcels of wool, of different qualities, by the 

 sorters in the Military Workhouse ; and of these par- 

 cels some are employed for warp, others for woof, 

 others for combing; and that which is very coarse 

 and indifferent for coarse mittens for the peasants, 

 for the lists of broadcloths, etc. 



The wool, when sorted, is delivered back by the 

 master-clothier to the steward, who now places it in 

 the sortcd-wool magazine, where it is kept in separate 

 bins, according to its different qualities and destina- 

 tions, till it is delivered out to be manufactured. As 

 these bins are all numbered, and as the quality and 

 destination of the wool which is lodged in each bin 

 is always the same, it is sufficient, in describing the wool 

 afterwards as it passes through the hands of the dif- 

 ferent manufactures, merely to mention its number ; 

 that is to say, the number of the bin in the sorted- 

 wool magazine from whence it was taken. 



As a more particular account of these various manip- 

 ulations, and the means used to prevent frauds, may 

 not only be interesting to all who are curious in these 

 matters, but may also be of real use to such as may 



