CHARACTERISTICS OF WOOL 79 



pear as folds. Long Leicester wool has about eight or 

 nine curls to an inch in length of fiber. There is also a 

 marked difference in the degree to which the waved or 

 curled fibers combine, so as to form locks or spirals which 

 hang like ringlets. Some of these are very large and some 

 are quite small, even in sheep of the same breed. 



While the immediate cause of crimp or curl is the 

 thickening of the cortical layer of the fiber, first on one 

 side and then on the other, the reasons why growth in 

 the fiber should proceed thus are not well understood. It 

 is known, however that the degree to which crimp or 

 curl may be maintained in wool is influenced by selection 

 in breeding. When a fine wooled sheep, as the American 

 Merino, is crossed by a coarse wooled sheep, as the Cots- 

 wold, there is a reduction in the waves or crimp found 

 in the wool of the progeny and vice versa. 



Softness or pliancy in wool — Softness or pliancy in 

 wool, which is the opposite of wiriness or stiffness, means 

 its lack of resistance to gentle pressure. The measure of 

 the resistance to such pressure is the measure of the soft- 

 ness. Elasticity is that quality in wool which causes it 

 to yield readily under pressure and then to resume its 

 former position when the pressure is removed. There is 

 no antagonism between softness and elasticity. On the 

 other hand, they are usually associated. Elasticity is in- 

 dicative of life in wool, hence the more of it that soft 

 wools have, the more valuable they are. Softness or 

 pliancy in wool can only be measured by the sense of 

 touch, hence the difficulty of expressing in words just 

 what it means. The trained hand of a wool sorter meas- 

 ures it in a moment, through the sense of touch. 



Softness or pliancy in wool differs much in the differ- 

 ent breeds of sheep, and in different parts of the same 

 fleece. The difference may be almost as great in wool 

 from certain breeds as the difference between feathers 

 and down. The softest wool is furnished by the fine wool 

 breeds, other things being equal. Among the other in- 



