WOOL. 



I Saxony and Sweden the wool is wadied on the fheep's backs. 



The following account of the procefs is thus defcribed by 



baron Schulz. The fheep are firft waflied with one part 



' clear ley, and two parts lukewarm water, and then in an- 



I other tub with lefs ley in the water ; after which the fheep 



are waihed, laying them always on their backs, with their 



heads up, in a tub with clean water ; and laftly, there is 



poured on the flitcp, when Handing on the ground, a fuf- 



iicient quantity of water, which is as much as poflible 



fqueezed out of the wool. The (heep are afterwards driven 



' into an unpaftured meadow adjoining, and remain there, to 



prevent their foihng themfelves in the flieep-houfe. They 



I remain there a day and a night, or longer, till the wool be 



I dry, which in fine weather will be in three days. Some 



I perfons wafli their (heep twice, but the wool becomes harder 



I in confequence of it, and has a greyer appearance. 



The great quantity of greafe which the fineft Spanifh 



wool contains at the firft wa(hing mixes with the ley-water, 



and makes it quite foapy ; but this greafe is wanting in the 



I fecond wafliing, fo that the water is not in the leaft foftened. 



\l Some mode of wafliing like the above mud be introduced 



; in England, before the manufafturer will encourage the 



I Anglo-Merino wool ; for after his purchafe, when he thinks 



he has obtained fufficient allowance in the price to cover the 



wafte, he is generally much difappointed in finding the lofs 



ill the manufafture fo greatly to exceed his expeftation, and 



he is deterred from making a fecond trial. 



In the northern counties of England, and in Scotland, 

 a pi-aftice has long prevailed of greafing the fheep with a 

 mixture of tar and butter, to preferve the animal from the 

 effefts of moifture, and the inclemency of the weather in 

 hflly and expofed fituations. This praftice feems at prefent 

 peculiar to Britain, but the ancients evidently made ufe of 

 mixtures of the dregs of olive wax, tar, wine, and other in- 

 gredients, to proteft the fldn of fheep after fhearing, and 

 to foften and improve the wool. Such was the praftice of 

 the Italian fhepherds, as defcribed by Virgil : 



" Aut tonfum trifti contingunt corpus amurca, 

 Et fpumas mifcent argenti vivaque fulfura, 

 Idasafque pices et pingues unguine ceras 

 Scyllamque helleborofque graves nigrumque bitumen." 



Georg. lib. iii. 



That this praftice was extremely beneficial in warm cli- 

 mates, by protefting the flcin of the fheep from infefts after 

 fhearing, and by keeping the wool in a foft ftate, cannot 

 be doubted. 



The praftice of greafing the fheep in Scotland, and the 

 northern counties of England, with a mixture of tar and 

 butter, feems to have been introduced merely to preferve the 

 fheep, and was generally fuppofed to be injurious to the 

 wool. Indeed the great proportion of tar, too frequently 

 employed, gave fome ground for entertaining this opinion ; 

 and the breed of fheep, on which this mixture was moft ge- 

 nerally applied, is naturally the worft which exifts in Britain 

 for the produftion of wool, the fleeces more nearly refem- 

 bling coarfe hair than vi'ool ; but Mr. Bakewell, in hisTreatife 

 on Wool, obferves, that " in Northumberland, where the fine- 

 woolled fheep have received the benefit of greafing with a 

 mixture in which the proportion of tar was merely fufficient 

 to give it due tenacity, the wool is greatly improved by the 

 procefs, but the ignorance or felfifhnefs of the wool-buyers 

 for a long time prevented the acknowledgment of the fad." 

 Many were afraid to purchafe the wool on account of its 

 dirty appearance, but its value is now better underftood in 

 the Yorkfliire markets, and it is purchafed by the manufac- 

 turers of coloured cloth in preference to the ungreafed wool 



of the fame degree of finenefs. The fame preference is alfo 

 given to the cloths in the halls, where they are fold in an 

 imdrefTed ftate. When thefe cloths are finiftied, their fupe- 

 riority is more apparent, poffefTrng a degree of foftnefs far 

 beyond the ungreafed wool. Thefe wools appear to im- 

 prove in every procefs of the manufafture, and yield a cloth 

 of greater value by twenty or thirty per cent, than the 

 ungreafed hard wools, though the latter may be equally 

 fine. 



But even in Northumberland, where the wool is fo 

 greatly improved by the praftice, its good effefts in this 

 refpeft are not fufBciently known, and the operation is delayed 

 till the approach of winter. By this delay, the upper part 

 of the ftaple which is firft grown, is deprived of the advan- 

 tage of being kept in a moift foft ftate during the fummer 

 heat. When the operation has taken place, a perceptible 

 improvement may be obferved in the wool which is after- 

 wards grown. The line of diftinftion is clearly marked by 

 the ftain which the unguent leaves in the ftaple, the bottom 

 part of which, where it is applied, is finer and fofter than 

 the upper part which was grown before its application. 

 This difference is fo great, that a careful examination of the 

 fine-greafed wools of Northumberland might alone be fuf- 

 ficient to demonftrate the advantage of the praftice, and 

 the inconvenience of delaying the operation to the end of 

 the year. To derive the moft advantage from the oint- 

 ment both to the wool and the fheep, it fhould be ap- 

 plied immediately after fhearing, and again at the approach 

 of winter. By the firft greafing, the wool will be kept foft 

 and moift during the fultry heats of July and Auguft, and 

 the top of the ftaple would not become harfli and dif- 

 coloured, which is frequently the cafe with Englifh wool. 

 One acknowledged advantage of greafing immediately after 

 fhearing fhould not be overlooked ; it deftroys the fheep- 

 tick, and has a tendency to prevent cutaneous diftempers, 

 and to proteft the flcin from the bite of the fly. The man- 

 ner of preparing the ointment in Northumberland is as fol- 

 lows : — From fixteen to twenty poundsof butter are placed 

 over a gentle fire, and melted ; a gallon of tar is then added, 

 and the mixture ftirred with a ftick until the tar and butter 

 are well combined, and form a foft tenacious ointment. 

 Some flcill is required in its application, the want of which has 

 prevented the praftice from prevailing more generally. If the 

 ointment be rubbed on the wool, it coUefts on the top of the 

 ftaple, where it detains the loofe foil, and becomes hard, and 

 is injurious to the wool. The proper method is to divide the 

 ftaples or locks with one hand, and apply the ointment with 

 the finger immediately upon the flcin ; it is thus kept con- 

 ftantly foft by the warmth of the animal, and is equally 

 diffufed through the fleece. Attention to this circum- 

 ftance is of the greateft importance to the fuccefs of the' 

 praftice. The quantity laid on each animal varies in dif- 

 ferent diftrifts. In the lighter mode of greafing, one gallon 

 of tar and twenty pounds of butter will be fufficient for 

 fifty fheep. In Scotland, where greafing is applied merely 

 to preferve the animal againft the inclemency of the cli- 

 mate, a much larger portion of tar is ufed : this would be 

 very injurious to the wool, were it of any other than the 

 very coarfeft kind. 



Could a cheap fubftitute for tar be found, which would 

 poflefs equal tenacity, the ointment might be applied with 

 great advantage to all our native breeds of Englifli flieep, 

 both for the prefervation of the animal and the improve- 

 ment of the wool. Mr. Bakewell ftates, that long combing- 

 wools, which have been greafed in this manner, produce a 

 fofter and fuperior yarn to any ever made from wool of the 

 native Englifh breeds which have not undergone the pro- 

 4 L 2 cefs. 



