32 PRACTICAL ANGORA GOAT RAISING. 



To obviate this danger as far as possible each 

 man opens the fleeces on a table covered with wire 

 screen, under which circulates a strong exhaust cur- 

 rent of air which is mechanically generated. Thus 

 small foreign particles and dust in the fleeces are 

 drawn downward. When the fleece is opened the 

 the sorter selects that part of the fleece which is 

 known to be the coarsest, i. e., the breech and a strip 

 along the center of the back, and puts this in one lot. 

 Next he selects a narrow strip along the side of the 

 fleece, which is known to be the finest part of the 

 fleece, and puts this in another lot. Now the neck 

 and the belly are separated and thrown into their 

 classes. If the whole fleece were a fine one, and free 

 from kemp, it would be sorted in the same way, but dif- 

 ferent parts of the fleece would go into proportionately 

 higher classes. The lots which these sorters make 

 are known to spin comparatively definite qualities 

 of yarn. Thus the low breech and the back of most 

 fleeces will not spin over No. 20 to No. 24 yarns, and 

 the sides of good fleeces are fine in fiber and will 

 spin No. 40 to No. 60 yarn. 



The quantity of mohair which one man can sort 

 varies considerably, according to the class of mohair 

 which he is given to work upon. One mill estimated 

 that experts can sort between two and three hundred 

 pounds of domestic mohair a day, and that it costs 

 about a cent a pound to thus separate the fleece. 



