Wool and its Uses. 
163 
away fi'om its native hills. The quantity produced is compara- 
tively small, and Scotch manufacturers generally take care that 
it does not travel far away from home. Farmers who are able 
to grow this article will, perhaps, be glad of the hint that it is 
worth their while to keep it up. There is danger of its disap- 
pearance and deterioration from the same causes as have been 
mentioned in regard to Eastern Counties wool, i.e. the attempt 
to increase the weight at the expense of the quality. 
Throughout the North there are various wools which show 
all kinds of mixtures of Cheviot, North, Blackfaced, and some- 
times Down. Some of the branches of this heterogeneous family 
have become distinct breeds — such, for instance, as Lonks and 
Mashams — and a large proportion go by the appropriate names 
of mules and cross-breds. 
The value of these broken-bred wools is now somewhat 
higher in proportion to other wools than it formerly was, owing 
to various causes. A good many of these wools are utilised in 
the manufacture of so-called Home-spuns, Cheviots, and Tweeds 
of the rougher class. 
Woollen and Worsted. 
A good deal of confusion exists in the minds of people out- 
side the trade as to the meaning of the terms Woollen and 
Worsted, which it may be as well to clear away. Technically, 
the difference consists in the structure of the yarn. The aim 
of the worsted-spinner is to get the fibres to lie parallel to each 
other, and produce a yam as fine, smooth, and straight as 
possible. The object of the woollen-spinner is precisely the 
reverse, i.e. to get the fibres to lie in a certain sense across 
each other so as to produce a yarn soft, fiuffy, or, to coin 
a word, as flannelly as possible. Difierent machinery is used 
in each trade to produce these different effects, but, speaking 
generally, the difference in the first place is in the wool. All 
long wools are spun into worsted yarns, and short wools into 
woollen. Dress goods for ladies' wear are worsted. Cloth for 
men's wear is generally woollen, with some exceptions, as, for 
instance, what are known as worsted coatings, which are made 
of comparatively long wool treated in the worsted fashion. 
There is, of course, a point of length at which it is difficult to 
say which trade wool will be used for. French merinos, Henri- 
ettas, and the so-called cashmeres, of which a lady's dress is 
made, are worsted. The soft cloth without pattern, or twill, of 
which her jacket is made, is generally woollen. Both are made 
of short wool, the woollen being, of course, the shorter, but 
both wools a generation ago would have gone into woollen 
goods. 
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