WOOL. 



to thefe (heep, as the wool grown on chalk foils, though 

 lefs foft than on other foils, is generally whiter, and better 

 fuited to fuch goods which require the procefs of bleaching 

 or ftoving, and do not require to be fo much fulled as many- 

 other cloths. 



The ancients were fo well aware of the neceflity of ex- 

 pelling dark-coloured wool from their flocks, that in feleft- 

 ing the (heep to breed from, they did not truft to the colour 

 of the fleece alone, but carefully examined the mouth and 

 tongue of the ram, and if the lead blacknefs or fwarthinefs 

 appeared he was immediately rejefted; and though fome 

 moderns have doubted the ufe of this precaution, we believe 

 it was well founded. 



" Ilium autem, quamvis aries fit candidus ipfe, 

 Nigra fubeft udo tantum cui lingua palato, 

 Rejice, ne maculis infufcet vellera pullis 

 Nafcentem." Vir. Georg. iii. 



PKny alfo ftates, that particular attention was on this 

 account had to the colour of the mouth. " Arietum maxi- 

 nie fpeftantur ora." We are informed that this kind of 

 infpeftion takes place in the Spanifh flocks at prefent, a 

 praftice in all probability derived from the Roman fliep- 

 herds, as we beheve the flock to have been from thofe of 

 Italy, or the Tarentine breed. The colour of the foil on 

 which flieep graze, if very dark or red, communicates to 

 the wool a tint more or lefs ftrong, which is indelible, and 

 renders fuch wool lefs proper for cloths or hofiery goods 

 that are to be finiflied white ; for though the colour may be 

 improved by ft;oving, yet on wafliing the cloths, they foon 

 return to a brownifli or yellowifli tint. The tint from 

 the foil is, however, rarely of fufficient ftrength to be re- 

 garded for dyed goods, excepting for exceedingly light 

 colours. 



The cleannefs of wool is principally regarded by the pur- 

 chafer, as it afFefts the weight. To the grower thofe fleeces 

 are generally the moft profitable that are well filled with 

 the greafe, or yolk as it is called, becaufe it keeps the wool 

 in a found ftate, and improves its foftnefs. It ought, how- 

 ever, to be waftied out as much as poffible before it is ex- 

 pofed to fale. The fleeces of the Merino flieep are more 

 plentifully fupplied with yolk than thofe of any of our 

 native fine-woolled breeds ; indeed it is fo abundant, that 

 the Englifti mode of wafhing on the back of the flieep will 

 fcarcely produce any effeft upon the fleece. The yolk or 

 greafe in the fleece appears, from the experiments made 

 upon it by M. Vauquelin, to be a native foap, confifting 

 principally of animal oil combined with potafh. It is moft 

 copioufly produced in thofe breeds which grow the fineft 

 and fofteft wool, and is always moft abundant on thofe parts 

 of the animal which yield the fineft parts of the fleece. To 

 this fubjeft we fliall again refer in treating of the improve- 

 ment of wool. This yolk, though fo beneficial to the wool 

 in a growing ftate, becomes mjurions to it when fliorn ; for 

 jf the fleeces remain piled in an unwaihed ftate, a ferment- 

 ation takes place, the yolk becomes hard, and the fibre is 

 rendered hard and brittle. This effeft takes place more 

 rapidly in hot weather. The Spaniards remove this yolk in 

 a great meafure by wafliing the wool after it is fliorn and 

 forted. In Saxony fine-wooUed flieep of the fame race are 

 waftied in tubs with warm water, foap-lees, and urine, and 

 afterwards in clean water. 



In England the wool is waftied on the back of the flieep 

 by immergiug the animal in water, and fqueezing the fleece 

 with the hand. From thefe different modes of wafliing, the 

 wool is left more or lefs pure. Mr. Bakewell, in his Ob- 



fervations on the Influence of Soil and Climate on Wool, has 

 given the following table, containing a ftatement of the quan- 

 tity of neat wool in every hundred pounds, taken on an 

 average of each fort, and fuppofing each to be free from 

 lumps of pitch employed in marking the wool, and cleared 

 from what are called the dog-locls. The firft column repre- 

 fents the average weight after the wool has been fcoured 

 perfeftly clean with foap and water, and dried ; the fecond 

 the amount of wafte. 



Pure Wool. Wafte. 

 loo lbs. of Englifli wool waftied on the 1 



flieep'sback - . . . j 75 25 



Ditto Saxony fleece-wool - - 8o 20 



Ditto Spanifti R, or refine - - 88 I2 



Ditto Spanifli and Portugal unwaftied - 75 5J 



Ditto Englifli fleeces unwaftied - - 60 40 

 Ditto lightly greafed wools of Northum-7 > 



berland waftied on the flieep's back j ■' 55 



Hence it is obvious, that the ftate of the fleece with 

 refpeft to cleannefs is an objeft of great importance to the 

 wool-buyer. The Englifti Merino flieep, from the diffi- 

 culty of wafliing the wool on the ftieep's back, have ge- 

 nerally been ftiorn in an unwaftied ftate, and the wool 

 offered for fale in this ftate. The purchafers were fre- 

 quently unacquainted with the great amount of the lofs it 

 would fuffer by waftiing, and were much difappointed at 

 the refult. This circumftance, we conceive, more than any 

 other, tended to prejudice the manufafturer ag^ainft the 

 Anglo-Merino wool. The wool is alfo injured by remain- 

 ing in the greafe, as we have before ftated, and though this 

 has been contradifted, we have no hefitation in afferting the 

 faft from our own experience. Indeed the French manu- 

 fafturers of fine cloth aflert, that the beft wools from Spain, 

 though cleared in a great meafure from the yolk, yet ftill retain 

 fufficient to injure the wool if it be fuffered to grow old when 

 it is packed, the yolk becoming rancid and hard, and commu- 

 nicating the latter property to the wool. We have frequently 

 obferved this effeft in the wools from Portugal, that retain 

 a greater portion of the yolk than thofe from Spain. 



After wool has been waflied in the ufual manner prac- 

 tifed in England, and piled or packed, a certain procefs 

 takes place in eight or nine weeks, cdXitd.fiueattng. This 

 is well known to wool-dealers and manufafturers, but has not 

 been before noticed by any writer that we are acquainted with. 

 It is evidently an incipient fermentation of the remaining 

 yolk ; and the inner part of the pack or pile becomes fen- 

 fibly warm. This procefs produces a certain change in the 

 wool, whereby it becomes in a better condition for manu- 

 fafturing, being what is called in the north of England lefs 

 fuzzy. This effeft refults from a diminution of the natural \ 

 elafticity of the fibre. ' 



When this fermentation takes place in unwaftied wool, it 

 proceeds farther, and injures the colour and foundnefs of the 

 ftaple or fibre. A fimilar effeft is produced in wool or 

 cloth which has been oiled, and remains fome time in an un- 

 fcoured ftate. Inftances of fpontaneous combuftion from 

 heaps of refufe wool remaining in a greafy ftate have been 

 known to occur, and occafion the moft ferious accidents in 

 woollen faftories. 



The weight of the fleece is an objeft of great import- 

 ance to the grower. It is generally fuppofed by the Eng- 

 hfli wool-dealers, that an increafe of weight implied an in- 

 creafe of coarfenefs ; indeed the words coarfe and heavy are 

 confidered by them as fynonymous, but this is not abfolutely 

 10 ' the 



