318 fVool in Relation to Science with Practice. 
rally sheds itself from tte rest, we beg the reader clearly to 
understand that which is well explained in the 1871 Report: — 
" The -n ooUen and worsted trades are very dissimilar, the manufacture differs 
in almost every process. 
" The work-people engaged in each require a separate experience altogether, 
whilst the machinery employed is as opposite in principle as woollen machinery 
is to that of cotton or silk. 
"As a rule the 'woollen manufacturer" — and especially the maker of 
'broadcloths' or felted goods — uses a fine-haired, short-stapled woo!, and 
endeavours to produce from it a yam, in which the fibres are transversely dis- 
posed to the axis, or length of the thread. The points or ends thus projecting 
from the exterior or circumference must be as numerous as possible. The 
limit of the qiiantity of fibres in a given length of thread desired is determined 
only by tlie tensile strength necessary for weaving and holding the fabric 
together, and imparting to the same the required firmness. This feature in 
* woollen ' yarn is termed ' jjile,' and subserves two purposes. The first, that 
the felting process may knit together, or interlock this multiplicity of fibres 
into a compact mass of matted fabric ; and the second, that from this same 
felted substance additional points may be subsequently raised to the surface in 
the finishing process, so that it resemble as much as possible a fine short fur. 
" The worsted spinner's aim, on the contrary, is to elongate or stretch the 
fibres, and lay them parallel to each other, and thus produce a yarn which 
shall be even and strong, and yet be composed of few hairs or filaments. 
" The character of worsted goods is estimated not only by the jDeculiar 
staple, or the properties which the various growths of wool or hair ] ossess, but 
also by the fineness or length to which yarn can be spun, and the corresponding 
increased number of jiicks or shoots wliich may torm a square inch of the 
fabric. In worsted stulis the number of the warp and weft threads per square 
inch may be counted by the aid of the usual magnifying eye-glass. In felted 
dressed woollens, such as broadcloths, this is not possible, inasmuch as the 
threads are hidden from view by the felting process before referred to." 
With regard to wool-stapling terms, I am favoured by the 
Wool Supply Committee of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce 
with information and observations as to the terms there under- 
stood by the wool-sorter, by whose trained eyes, delicately expert 
and nimble fingers, the wool of the various fleeces is selected and 
sorted. 
On a Southdown fleece the sorts, in order of transverse division, 
would be called Breech, next Super, then Prime, and the rest 
Diamond.* 
Taking a Leicester fleece, as an average of English wool, it 
would be sorted, and in Bradford named in order thus : 
Breech, or 24's. 
Brown, or 30's. 
Neat, or 36's. — About the centre transverse division. 
Blue, or 40's. — Transverse division, togetlier with ridge of neck. 
Fine, or 44's. — Part of neck and all on the shoulders. 
♦ " It is now a fact generally admitted that English long wool has recently mnci 
deteriorated in the quality of its fibre ; so tliat whereas ten to fifteen years age 
a yarn might be spun to 52's, the same is now, with rare exceptions, possibh 
without an admixture of a certain proportion of colonial or other finer wool."— 
1871 Urioit. 
