458 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 1 1882. 
sides of the animals ; the next from the upper part of the legs and 
thighs, extending to the haunch and tail ; and the most inferior 
is distributed on the upper part of the neck, throat, belly, breast, 
and part of the legs. The stapler, however, arranges it in six 
different allotments, and the finest wool is divided into no less 
than ten ; these are termed according to their degree of fineness, 
and may well be expressed in numerical order, thereby denoting 
the variety which exists in a single fleece. Carding is a name 
given to the process which wool undergoes in being made into 
cloths or woollen goods, whilst combing is a part of the process in 
making worsted goods. Short and fine wool, for the most part, 
is employed for the former, and long and coarse wool for the 
latter. The card is an instrument which breaks and divides the 
wool into a multitude of fragments, which from the spiral growth 
of the wool, are necessarily left in a curved state ; and from this 
and other causes they are disposed to lock together and adhere on 
FIG. I. 
6 
being subjected to moisture and pressure, as is shown in the felt 
of a hat which is thus made. This disposition is called felting. 
After being broken into fragments which adhere loosely together, 
it is spun and woven into cloth, being for this purpose well oiled. 
It is afterwards fullered—that is, the oil is extracted by means of 
fullers’ earth, and it is the moisture and pressure of this process 
which call out the felting properties of the wool, and give it that 
close and dense appearance which fine cloth assumes. Wool for 
worsteds, on the other hand, is combed smooth and not broken 
into pieces, and is then spun, so that it retains a looser appearance. 
The perfection of wool-spinning cannot be better illustrated than 
by the facts that in ordinary spinning a pound of wool is made to 
extend upwards of 1300 yards ; in superfine spinning a distance 
of 22 miles ; and it is an established fact that this quantity has 
been spun into a thread reaching the incredible distance of up¬ 
wards of 95 miles. These latter observations which we have 
quoted are from the excellent treatise on the “ History, Structure, 
Economy, and Diseases of Sheep,” by W. G. Spooner, M.R.V.C., 
which book we can recommend to the home farmer for his perusal 
and instruction. 
To enable our readers to understand the interesting point as to 
the minuteness of the fibres, and the serrations in the structure of 
wool, although it differs somewhat in different breeds of sheep, we 
give an illustration or diagram (fig. 90) of various wools as viewed 
through an achromatic microscope, and sufficiently magnified to 
show the serrated and varied structure of the wool from sheep of 
different breeds, as well as the relative size and appearance. 
The following description with diagram by Professor Archer, 
explains the essential character of wool:—“ The essential characters 
of wool can only be learned by a very careful and even microscopic 
examination of the material. Most of the terrestrial mammals 
with hairy coats produce two kinds of hair. The first and most 
apparent is that which is usually called 1 hair the other, which 
is generally shorter and underlies the former, is called ‘ wool ’ or 
‘ fur.’ Hair is almost invariably cylindrical, with a smooth sur¬ 
face, whereas wool and fur are covered with scales, and some 
kinds have a waved or otherwise varied outline. The scales are 
of the utmost importance, and upon their number in a given space 
depends, in a great measure, the quality of the material. But 
besides being scaly, as shown in fig. 4, wool from the sheep is 
also waved, as in figs. 1 and 2, and in fig. 3, the two former 
representing a single fibre of short and of long staple wool, the 
other a small lock of wool. It is attempted to show in fig. 6 that 
the scales on each fibre are only attached by their bases, so that if 
we bend one its scales are lifted up and project, their points, how¬ 
ever, being all in the same direction. An it is further intended 
by fig. 5 to show that if two fibres are brought side by side in 
opposite directions the scales of one will catch in those of the 
other, and if we encourage this by mechanical means the result 
will be such an interlocking as will not be easily disconnected. 
Moisture will facilitate this combination very much, so that if a 
handful of wool be wetted and rubbed or beaten the fibres will 
work into one another and form a compact mass. Upon this 
quality depends the shrinkage of flannels and other woollen goods 
when washed, and also the process called felting. The waviness 
of the fibres, too, enables them to remain intertwined when they 
have been spun into threads, and is, consequently, a very im¬ 
portant quality ; for if we take fibres which lack this property 
and twist them, if they possess any elasticity they will not remain 
twisted, not having any hold upon each other. Human hair will 
illustrate this. 
“ The structural peculiarities of wool are found to be so per¬ 
manent that hardly any amount of wear will injure them ; hence 
it is found that woollen clothing reduced to rags may be torn up 
and its fibres separated into the state of wool again, and then 
recarded and spun into yarns for the wearing of excellent cloths. 
The discovery of this fact during the present century has added 
very much to the national wealth by the prevention of waste and 
the creation of a new class of manufactures.” 
We will now consider how the home farmer can, when he offers 
his wool for sale, have the credit of obtaining the best price for 
the article by having produced it in the best possible condition. 
It is commonly supposed that the washing the sheep is a very 
simple matter. Even selling the wool in the grease, it having 
been shorn from the animals without being washed at all, is advo¬ 
cated by some growers in the counties of Devon, Somerset, and 
Cornwall, and there is a great difference of opinion amongst 
farmers about the policy of washing. The buyers, however, prefer 
