CROSS BREEDING FOR WOOL. 245 



cussed and illustrated in the next and concluding articles of 

 this series. 



Here we want to consider what the wool is, chiefly. The 

 scales of which the outer part of the wool is made up, 

 may be compared to those of a fish in the general manner 

 of their position on the fiber. They all lie in one direction 

 from the root of the fiber upwards, as the scales lie from 

 the head to the tail of the fish; so that if one draws a lock 

 of wool through the fingers, from the root end upward, the 

 fibers slip smoothly through them. But if the wool is drawn 

 from the tip to the root, the harshness and roughness is quite 

 perceptible. These serrations are exceedingly small. In the 

 finest Merino ^Saxony) they number 2,800 to an inch; in the 

 Leicester as we shall see in time, it most closely resembles 

 the Merino in the character of its fleece these serrations are 

 about 1,800 to the inch. These numbers refer to the points 

 presented by the scales all around the fiber, and not to the 

 margins of the individual scales, as shown in these illustra- 

 tions, in which only the bordering lines are really shown. 

 The coarser wools may have no more than 500 serrations to 

 the inch. 



The diameter of the finest Saxony fiber is from 1,500 to 

 1,800 to an inch. An average Merino fleece will be one 

 750th of an inch in diameter. Coarse carpet wool is about one 

 250th of an inch. This special fineness of the fiber, its ser- 

 rated edge and crimp, are easily seen to have much to do with 

 its value to the manufacturer, who may make of it the finest, 

 softest and lightest goods. And as the Merino fleece may be 

 taken as the basis of computation of value and fitness for 

 use of all other wools, it may be readily perceived how the 

 peculiarity of its wool may be graded down by judicious 

 crossing so as to meet every need of the manufacturer for 

 the largest variety of staples. 



Had the manufacturer of the finest or the coarsest cloth- 

 ing fabrics, with all the experience, skill and ingenuity that 

 the most accomplished could possess, set himself to invent a 

 fiber just suited to his needs, he could scarcely have pro- 

 cured one that meets every want so well as wool, with all 

 its points of adaptability, excellence and variability. And 

 the wool-grower must perceive all this and guide himself 

 in accordance with his knowledge in the pursuit of his indns- 



