WOOL. 



dilccni a iiiimiLc Jill'trcuce, wliicli ia quile imperceptible to 

 toniniuii obicrvers, and fcarccly appreciable by the mod 

 powerful microfcopes. Of the various attempts tliat have 

 been made to reduce the finenefs of wool to a certain 

 ttaiidard, by admeafuremer/t with a micrometer, we (hall 

 afterwards fpeak. From fome experiments we have made, 

 as well as from thofe made by Mr. Luccock, Dr. Parry, 

 and others, we may eftimate the thicknefs of the hair of the 

 lineft Spaiiilh and Saxony wool to be not more than the 

 fifteen-hundredth part of an inch, and that of the tincft 

 native Englifh to be from twelve to thirteen-hundredth 

 parts, whilll the inferior forts gradually increafe to the 

 fix-hundreth part of an inch and more. A difference in the 

 fize of thefe fibres, too minute to be noticed by the common 

 obferver, may occafion a difference of 40 per cent, or more in 

 the value of the wool. The finenefs of the hair has been 

 ever confidered as an important quahty fince the clothing 

 manufaftnre emerged from its rudeft ftate. Fine wool was 

 formerly valued becaufe a finer thread could be fpun from 

 it, and a thinner fabric made, than from the coarfer wools ; 

 but fince recent mechanical improvements have been intro- 

 duced into the woollen nianufafture, it has been found 

 prafticable to fpin coarfe wools to the fame length as the 

 finer wools were formerly fpun to. It is well known, how- 

 ever, to cloth-manufafturers, that whatever be the finenefs 

 of the yarn, unlefs the wool be fine, it is impoffible to make 

 a fine, compaft, and even cloth, in which the thread fliall be 

 covered with a thick foft pile ; nor would a thin cloth 

 made from coarfe wool have the fame durability or appear- 

 ance as one from fine wool of equal weight per yard. Fine 

 wool will, therefore, always preferve a fuperior value to 

 the coarfe ; indeed it was long confidered as the principal 

 and almoft the only quality deferving the attention of the 

 wool-grower, the wool-ltapler, and the clothier. 



The regular finenefs of the fibre is alfo an objeft of con- 

 fiderable importance ; the lower end of tlie llaple, or tliat 

 part of the fleece neareft the fl<in, will fometimes be very 

 fine, and the upper part coarfe. In fome fine fleeces there 

 will frequently be an intermixture of long, filvery, coarfe 

 hairs, and in other fine fleeces an intermixture of fhort, 

 thick, opaque hairs, called kemps. When the wool is thus 

 irregularly fine or intermixed, it is technically called not 

 homg true grotvn. The fine fleeces of Spain and Portugal, 

 particularly of the latter country, are many of them injured 

 by the intermixture of the long filvery hairs before-men- 

 tioned : whether this be owing to the original Tarentine 

 breed having been crofTed with the coarfe-woolled native 

 fheep of Spain, (fee the article Sheep,) and ilill preferving 

 a tendency to revert to their firfl condition, or whether it 

 be the effeft of heat on the ficin, is uncertain. The Saxony 

 fleeces, from the fame breed, removed to colder climates, 

 are generally free from this defedl. The coarfe fhort hairs, 

 or kemps, are not uncommon in fome of the fine-woolled 

 flocks of England and Wales, particularly thofe which are 

 more expofed to the inclemencies of the weather, and have 

 a fcanty or irregular fupply of food. It has been ob- 

 ferved, in the firfl part of the article Sheep, that in fome 

 flocks the proportion of fine wool in each fleece is much 

 greater than in others, for in few or none is the wool grown 

 uniformly fine over the whole body. 



On the Merino flieep the fleece is more regular, whatever 

 be the degree of finenefs, than on any of our native Eng- 

 lifh fine-woolled breeds. The Merino fleece admits of a 

 divifion into four forts, the rejina, the jina, and the tercera, 

 vfith a very minute portion of coarfe from the flianks and 

 head, which is not fent to market. The three forts are 

 dilUnguiflied in commerce by the marks R, F, and T. 



On the average, there will be m each fleece nearly threes 

 fourths of the befl or R wool. The fecond and third forts, 

 or the F and T, will alfo contain a confiderable portion as 

 fine as the befl ; but being fliorter and difcoloured, or m- 

 termixed with coarfe hairs, which require their locks to be 

 feparated from the befl fort, or the refina. 



In the native Englifh fleeces, however fine fome part may 

 be, the proportion of the befl: fort rarely exceeds one-third 

 part, and is frequently not more than one-fixth part of the 

 whole fleece. 



The value of the befl; part of a Spanifli fleece, or the 

 R wool, varies greatly in different flocks. When this fort, 

 from the mofl: efteemed flocks, may be worth fix (hillings 

 and fixpence per pound in the Englifli market, the R wool 

 from another flock may not be worth more than three fliil- 

 lings and fixpence. The F and T wools are from 25 to 

 ^O per cent, lower than the firfl fort : thus, the inferior forts 

 from the finefl piles may be of greater value than the befl 

 fort or R wool of other piles ; but they are never inter- 

 mixed by the dealers, as they are applicable to different 

 fabrics. In the Englifli mode of wool-forting, there will 

 frequently be eight or ten forts in a fingle fleece ; and if the 

 beft^ wool of one fleece be not equal to the finefl; fort, it is 

 thrown to a fecond, third, or fourth, or a fl;ill lower fort, 

 which is of an equal degree of finenefs with it. The befl 

 Enghfli ftiort native fleeces, fuch as the fine Norfolk and 

 South Down, are generally divided by the wool-forter into 

 the following forts, varying in degree of finenefs from each 

 otlier, which are called. 



Prime, 



Choice, 



Super, 



Head, 



Downrights, 



Seconds, 



Fine abb, 



Coarfe abb. 



Livery, 



Short coarfe or breech wool. 



Befides thefe forts of white clothing wool, two and 

 generally three forts of grey wool are made, confift;ing of 

 locks which may be black, or intermixed with grey hairs. 

 Some wool-forters alfo throw out any remarkably fine locks 

 in the prime, and make a fmall quantity of a fuperior fort, 

 which they call picklock. The origin of fome of the above 

 names is obfcure, but the names of the finer forts appear to 

 indicate either a progreflTive improvement in the quality 

 of the wool, or in the art of wool-forting. The relative 

 value of each fort varies confiderably, according to the 

 greater demand for coarfe, fine, or middle cloths ; and the 

 variation during and fince the late war in the Spanifli penia- 

 fula has been much increafed by temporary caufes. Before 

 that period, wlien the R wool of good Spanifh piles fold at 

 from five fliillings and fixpence to fix fhiUings per pound, 

 the prime from Herefordfhire fleeces was fold at about 

 three fliillings and fixpence, and that from the Norfolk and 

 South Down from three fliillings to three (hillings and two- 

 pence per pound. The higher price of the Herefordfhire 

 was in part owing to its being in a cleaner flate. The 

 Spanifh wool is alfo cleaner than any of the Englifli wools, 

 being fcoured after it is fhorn ; but the latter is only im- 

 perfetlly wafhed on the (heep, previoufly to its being fhorn. 

 A pack of Englifh clothing wool of 240 pounds weight, 

 in its marketable ftate, will walle about 70 pounds in the 

 procefa of the manufafture : the fame quantity of Spanifh 

 v/ool, as fent to market, will not walle more than 48 pounds 



