FOR SCOURING WOOL. 13 



the method of scouring. In the first place, less oil is neces- 

 sary in spinning. From a third to a half is saved ; not a matter 

 of great economy to be sure, but small as it is, it has been 

 estimated that the saving in oil would just about balance the 

 additional expense of the scour. In the second place, there 

 is a material diminution in waste in carding. About one half 

 of the card waste is saved, and the wool being cleaner, there 

 is less gumming of the cards, and they need to be cleaned 

 only about half as often. Third, the Toppan wool will spin 

 finer than the same wool scoured in the ordinary way. 



Mr. Spalding, superintendent of the Ray Mills at Franklin, 

 informed me that he was able to spin from a run to a run and 

 a half finer than with his own scour. A run with Mr. Spald- 

 ing means some 1,600 yards more of yarn to a pound cf wool. 

 Finer thread, and more of it ; in other words, a cheaper grade 

 of wool when scoured by this process is available for the same 

 purposes, exactly, as a finer grade scoured in the old way, a 

 saving of several cents per pound of wool. This is not the 

 substitution of a poorer article for a good one, or, in other 

 words, an adulteration, but it is an advance in methods of pro- 

 duction, whereby really valuable qualities, now to some extent 

 latent, are made to take their proper place in the manufacture. 



The antiseptic quality of the compound in the case of wool, 

 as well as with cotton, is a preventive of mildew. 



The dirt which comes on the fleeces is, to a considerable 

 extent, the excrement of the sheep themselves. This dirt 

 often amounts to half the gross weight of the wool. This is 

 not really dissolved by the compound, but is softened and 

 held in suspension. In a very short time, if allowed to stand 

 in quiet, the dirt is precipitated, and the precipitate is a fer- 

 tilizer of high order. There is no doubt but that this alone, 

 if collected, would pay the cost of scouring. As to the value 

 of the fertilizer, I quote from the report of Mr. John L. 

 Hayes, to the government, on Sheep Husbandry in the U. S., 

 page 17: 



" As a fertilizer, the manure of sheep in its intrinsic quality, 

 and its distribution and prompt utilization among the roots of 

 grasses, is unequalled. This has been so long and so 

 notably manifest, that the sobriquet of ' Golden Hoof ' for the 

 ovine animal has become proverbial. In England the sheep 

 is the main dependence in the fertilization of the soil for the 

 wheat crop. If the mutton returns barely suffice to pay for 

 the field value of the turnip crop, the manure is deemed a 

 liberal profit. Good farmers in this country understand the 

 value of the sheep as a means of soil improvement." 



