444 ON THE COMMERCE AND USES OF THE HAIR OF ANIMALS. 



moated by a gilded pennant, is the Turkish standard, or emblem of 

 authority. Commanders are distinguished by the number of horse 

 tails carried before them, or planted in front of their tents. Thus the 

 Sultan has seven, the Grand Vizier five, and the Pasha three, two, or 

 one. The usage of these tails is of Tartaric origin. 



Hair thread and hair sacks are made in Eomalia and Anatolia. For 

 upholstery purposes, Ohio hogs 1 bristles are used for stuffing in the 

 United States, and it is possible that this kind of hair sometimes gets 

 mixed with the description designed for mattresses, &c. The process of 

 manufacturing horsehair is as follows : — From the bales it is thrown 

 into a ' picker ' making 800 revolutions per minute, and then twisted 

 into ropes by machinery, to make it curl. The next process is to boil 

 it, that it may be thoroughly cleansed, for which purpose it is put into 

 vats, heated with exhausted steam from the engine ; this done, it is 

 thoroughly dried in an oven. The ropes of hair are then ready to be 

 picked into pieces for use. 



The short hair is serviceable after curling, for stuffing chair seats, 

 cushions, sofas, mattresses, &c. The long hair for weaving into seating 

 and covering ; and the middle lengths for brush-making in lieu of 

 bristles. In Sicily cheap and rough ordinary paint-brushes of horsehair 

 are sold as low as a farthing to a penny each, and rough-made clothes- 

 brushes at 8d Light horsehair can be dyed of various colours, but as 

 there is only a limited supply of the pure white, some difficulty would 

 arise in obtaining the raw material. 



Hair-seating is wove by hand, every hair being introduced singly. It 

 differs in this respect from most other woven fabrics, in which there is 

 uniform and continuous supply of material, thereby permitting the appli- 

 cation of steam power. In hair-seating, the weft being in detached pieces, 

 it has been found that power-looms cannot be advantageously employed. 

 At the South Kensington Museum, in the Animal Collection, there 

 are some interesting specimens of damask hair cloths made by Mr. E. 

 Webb (Worcester), and Messrs. S. Laycock and Sons (Sheffield). 

 Among these are fancy green striped hair seating, plain grey satin ditto, 

 orange damask figured, scarlet damask, figured black diaper damask, 

 plain black satin hair, &c. In some of these specimens a variety of 

 damask patterns or designs are introduced by the application of the 

 Jaccpiard loom, and also diversity of colours. 



Among the various other purposes to which horsehair is applied are 

 for making crinoline or ladies' petticoats, mixed with cotton ; for bags for 

 pressing apples, cloth for straining purposes by brewers, oil-refiners, &c., 

 for rope, for socks or soles for lining boots and shoes, for brush- 

 making, &c. 



Formerly the warps of hair seating were made exclusively of linen 

 yarn, but oi late years, cotton has been extensively used on account of its 

 softness, as it produces hair cloth of more pliable texture, and of 

 smoother and more even surface. 



