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coarse short hairs, or kemps, are not uncommon in some of 
the fine-woolled flocks of England and Wales, particularly 
those which are more exposed to the inclemencies of the 
weather, and have a scanty or irregular supply of food. 
On the Merino sheep the fleece is more regular, whatever 
be the degree of fineness, than on any of our native English 
fine-woolled breeds. 
The best English short native fleeces, such as the fine 
Norfolk and South Down, are generally divided by the wool- 
sorter into the following sorts, varying in degree of fineness 
from each other, which are called. Prime, Choice, Super, 
Head, Downrights, Seconds, Fine abb. Coarse abb. Livery, 
Short coarse or breech wool. 
Besides these sorts of white clothing wool, two, and gene¬ 
rally three sorts of grey wool are made, consisting of flocks 
which may be black, or intermixed with grey hairs. Some 
wool-sorters also throw out any remarkably fine locks in the 
prime, and make a small quantity of a superior sort, which 
they call picklock. The origin of some of the above names 
is obscure, but the names of the finer sorts appear to indicate 
either a progressive improvement in the quality of the wool, 
or in the art of wool-sorting. The relative value of each 
Sort varies considerably, according to the greater demand for 
coarse, fine, or middle cloths. 
Of fine European wools, the Saxony generally possesses a 
greater degree of softness than the Spanish, which we believe 
to be owing to the sheep being less exposed to the action of 
light and heat. The native fine Italian wool, before the in¬ 
troduction of the Merino race, possessed a considerable 
degree of softness, judging from wools which we have seen 
from thence, but they were deficient in soundness, and not 
true grown. The wools on the chalk soils in the southern 
and eastern side of England are generally hard, except, as in 
Kent, where the chalk is covered by thick argillaceous beds. 
Nottingham forest, Charnwood forest in Leicestershire, and 
some parts of Shropshire, produced not the finest, but some 
of the softest wools in England before the late inclosures. 
The Cheviot hills in Cumberland are not pastured by the 
finest-woolled English sheep, but their fleeces possess a 
degree of softness exceeding any from the other districts of 
England. 
The felting property of wool is intimately connected with 
its softness, the softest wools having the greatest tendency to 
felt, and the hard wools are all defective in this respect. The 
felting property appears to depend on a peculiar structure of 
the surface of the fibres, by which they are disposed to move 
in one direction more easily than another. 
The length and soundness of the staple of clothing wool is 
the quality next to be considered. By the staple of wool is 
meant the separate locks into which the fleece naturally di¬ 
vides in the skin, each lock consisting of a certain number 
of fibres, which collectively are called the staple. 
The best length of staple for fine clothing-wool, if found, 
is from two to three inches. If it be longer it requires 
breaking down to prepare it for the process of carding. 
Saxony wool, being generally more tender than the Spanish, 
and more easily broken down, is sometimes four or five 
inches long ; but as it works down easily, it is preferred, on 
account of the length of its staple, for such goods which re¬ 
quire fine spinning, as cassimeres, pelisse cloth, and shawls. 
Much of the English clothing-wool of a middle quality is 
grown longer than is desirable for the purpose of the clothier, 
and when found is thrown out for the hosiery trade, if the 
demand for the latter be great. As the grower could not 
shorten the length of the staple without diminishing the 
weight of the fleece, he has no motive to induce him to grow 
shorter wool; but the object might be obtained with much 
benefit to himself by shearing twice in the year, once the 
latter end of April, and again the latter end of August; the 
wool would then be grown of a suitable length for the card, 
and, from experiments that have been made, we believe the 
weight would exceed what can be obtained from one clip: 
the increase would not be less than fifteen per cent., and the 
condition of the sheep thereby improved. 
<5 L. 719 
The soundness of the staple in clothing-wools is not so 
important as in combing-wools; but for some kinds of co¬ 
lours which injure the wool, it is particularly desirable that 
the fibre should be sound and strong; this is judged of by 
drawing out the staple, and pulling it by both ends. The 
soundness and strength of the staple depend primarily on the 
healthy state of the animal, and on a sufficient supply of food. 
The staple on some parts of the fleece will always be more 
tender than on other parts, but by mixture they tend to form 
a dense pile on the surface of the cloth. 
The colour of the fleece should always approach as much 
as possible to the purest white, because such wool is not only 
necessary for cloths dressed white, but for all cloths to be 
dyed bright colours, for which a clear white ground is re¬ 
quired, to give a due degree of richness and lustre. 
The cleanness of wool is principally regarded by the pur¬ 
chaser, as it affects the weight. To the grower those fleeces 
are generally the most profitable that are well filled with' 
the grease, or yolk as it is called, because it keeps the wool 
in a sound state, and improves its softness. It ought, how- 
ever, to be washed out as much as possible before it is ex¬ 
posed to sale. The fleeces of the Merino sheep are more 
plentifully supplied with yolk than those of any of our na¬ 
tive fine-woolled breeds ; indeed, it is so abundant, that the 
English mode of washing on the back of the sheep will 
scarcely produce any effect upon the fleece. It is most co¬ 
piously produced in those breeds which grow the finest and 
softest wool, and is always most abundant on those parts of 
the animal which yield the finest parts of the fleece. This 
yolk, though so beneficial to the wool in a growing state, be¬ 
comes injurious to it when shorn ; for if the fleeces remain 
piled in an unwashed state, a fermentation takes place, the 
yolk becomes hard, and the fibre is rendered hard and brittle. 
This effect takes place more rapidly in hot weather. The 
Spaniards remove this yolk in a great measure by washing 
the wool after it is shorn and sorted. In Saxony fine-woolled 
sheep of the same race are washed in tubs with warm water, 
soap-lees, and urine, and afterwards in clean water. 
In England the wool is washed on the back of the sheep 
by immerging the animal in water, and squeezing the fleece 
with the hand. From these different modes of washing, the 
wool is left more or less pure. 
After wool has been washed in the usual manner practised 
in England, and piled or packed, a certain process takes 
place in eight or nine weeks, called sweating. This is well 
known to wool-dealers and manufacturers, but has not been 
before noticed by any writer that we are acquainted with. 
It is evidently an incipient fermentation of the remaining 
yolk; and the inner part of the pack or pile becomes sen¬ 
sibly warm. This process produces a certain change in the 
wool, whereby it becomes in a better condition for manu¬ 
facturing, being what is called in the north of England less 
fuzzy. This effect results from a diminution of the natural 
elasticity of the fibre. 
When this fermentation takes place in unwashed wool, it 
proceeds farther, and injures the colour and soundness of the 
staple or fibre. A similar effect is produced in wool or cloth 
which has been oiled, and remains some time in an unscoured 
state. Instances of spontaneous combustion from heaps of 
refuse wool remaining in a greasy state have been known to 
occur, and occasion the most serious accidents in woollen 
factories. 
The weight of the fleece is an object of great importance 
to the grower. It is generally supposed by the English 
wool-dealers, that an increase of weight implied an increase 
of coarseness; indeed the words coarse and heavy are con¬ 
sidered by them as synonymous; but this is not absolutely 
the case; a fleece grown upon the same animal may be in¬ 
creased in weight eilhdr by the fibres becoming coarser, or 
by their being grown longer, or by a greater number of fibres 
being grown in the same skin. To the wool-grower it can 
never answer to increase the weight of the fleece on small 
fine-woolled sheep, by growing the wool coarser; if this be 
his object, the long-wooiled breeds of sheep are to be pre¬ 
ferred. 
