720 
WOOL. 
ferred. He may produce wool somewhat longer by increasing 
the quantity of food; but it generally loses something of its 
fineness, and is less suitable for the cloth trade. He may, 
however, increase the weight considerably by selecting such 
breeds as grow the wool close upon the skin, and are thickly 
covered with wool over every part of the body. In this re¬ 
spect, the Merino sheep have greatly the advantage over any 
of the native breeds of English sheep ; many of them yield¬ 
ing from three to four pounds of pure wool, whilst the finest 
English fleeces rarely exceed two pounds, and would lose 
one fourth of this weight when brought to a pure state by 
scouring. It has been doubted whether all sheep’s wool, 
when clean, possesses the same specific gravity; but, ad¬ 
mitting there may be some variation in the wool from dif¬ 
ferent piles, we conceive that it is too minute to deserve the 
attention of the wool-grower or manufacturer. 
Long, or Combing Wool, being prepared for spinning by 
a process entirely different from that of short or clothing 
wool, and the pieces made from it being finished in a very 
different manner, the qualities most required in this kind of 
wool are length and soundness of the staple, without which 
the fleece is unsuited for the comb. The fineness of the hair 
is a secondary quality, required only in certain kinds of 
goods. The wool-comb is an instrument of simple construc¬ 
tion, consisting of a wooden handle, with a transverse piece 
or head, in which are inserted three rows of long steel teeth. 
The wool, which is to be combed after being clean scoured, 
dried, and oiled, is first drawn upon these teeth with the 
hand, until the comb is sufficiently loaded. It is then placed 
on the knee of the comber, and another comb of a similar 
kind is drawn through it, and the operation is repeated till 
all the hairs or fibres are combed smooth in one direction. 
This operation requires considerable strength, but the comb 
being previously heated, and the wool thoroughly oiled, faci¬ 
litates the process. When completed, the combed wool is 
drawn off with the fingers, forming what is called a sliver; 
the shorter part of the wool sticks in the teeth of the comb, 
and is called the noyl: this is sold to the clothiers. 
From the above description, it is evident that if the staple 
of the wool be not sound, the greater part of it will be broken 
by the process of combing, and form noyls. The staple 
must also have a sufficient degree of length for the combs to 
operate upon it. Length and soundness of the staple are 
therefore the most essential and characteristic qualities of 
combing-wools. 
Long wools may be classed into two kinds: first, those 
suited for the manufacture of hard yarn for worsted pieces; 
and second, those suited for the manufacture of soft yarn used 
for hosiery. The former require a greater length of staple 
than the latter. The first may therefore be called long 
combing-wool, and the latter short combing-wool; between 
these there are gradations of wool, which may be applied to 
either purpose. 
Long combing-wool should have the staple from six inches 
to eight, ten, or even twelve, in length. Before the recent 
improvements in spinning by machinery, a very great length 
of staple was considered as an excellence in long combing- 
wools; and on this account the hog-wool, or the first fleeces 
from sheep which had not been shorn when lambs, was more 
valuable than the wether wool from the same flock, and bore 
a higher price than the latter, by at least fifteen per cent. 
Since that time, the wether wool has risen in relative value 
on account of the evenness of the staple, each lock being 
nearly equally thick at both ends; but the staple of hog- 
wool is pointed, or what is technically called spirey. Eight 
inches, if the wool be sound, may be regarded as a very 
proper length for heavy combing-wools. The longer stapled 
wool was formerly worked by itself, and used for the finer 
spun yarn, or mixed in small quantities with the wether 
wool, to improve the spinning. It is found, that an equal 
length of staple contributes to the evenness of the thread 
when spun by machinery, and a very great length of staple 
is rather injurious than otherwise in the process of machine 
spinning. To the wool-grower, however, it must always be 
desirable to increase the length of his heavy combing fleeces, 
as he thereby materially increases the weight; and we have 
not yet learned that the price has ever been reduced on this 
account, for if the wool be too long for some branches of the 
worsted manufacture, there are others in which it may be 
worked with advantage. 
The length of the staple may be increased by a plentiful 
supply of nutritious food. The same effect may also be pro¬ 
duced by letting the wool remain a longer time on the sheep 
before it is shorn. We have seen a staple of Lincolnshire 
wool which was twenty inches in length: it had grown two 
years without shearing. This, however, would be unattended 
with any advantage to the grower. Length of staple in wool 
depends primarily on the breed, but may be more affected 
by culture than many other qualities of the fleece. The 
soundness of the staple may be easily judged of by pulling 
both ends of it with the fingers with considerable force. In 
weak or unsound wool, the staple easily breaks in one or 
more parts, and on observing it, it will be seen that the fibres 
are much thinner in the part which breaks. This is occa¬ 
sioned either by a deficient supply of food, by disease, or by 
inclement seasons, which cause a stoppage in the growth of 
the fleece. In some instances the stoppage has been so en¬ 
tire that the upper part of the staple is nearly separated from 
the lower, and is only connected with it by a few filaments: 
in such cases, the stoppage has continued for a considerable 
time, and the bottom part of the staple may be considered as 
a new fleece, protruding the old one from the skin. Con¬ 
nected with the soundness of wool, there is another pro¬ 
perty required ; this is, that the staple be free and open, or 
that the fibres shall not be matted or felted together; an 
effect which takes place frequently when the wool is unsound. 
It is, in fact, a natural felting of the wool on the back of the 
animal, when by any cause it has ceased to grow. Some¬ 
times the lower part of the fleece next the skin will be so 
completely matted as to form a substance nearly as hard as a 
hat, and will hold to the skin by a few hairs only. These 
are called cotted fleeces; all approach to this state is pecu¬ 
liarly injurious to combing-wools. The wool-buyers gene¬ 
rally throw out the cotted and unsound fleeces when they 
pack the wool from the grower, and buy them at a very re¬ 
duced price. The softness of combing-wool, though of less 
importance than in clothing-wool, yet enhances its value, as 
it is found that such wool makes a closer and softer thread, 
and in every process of the manufacture finishes more kindly. 
Combing-wools grown on light calcareous soils are deficient 
in this respect; such are the combing-wools of Oxfordshire 
and the Cotswold hills, which are formed of that species of 
lime-stone called oolite, or roe-stone. A copious supply of 
the yolk is necessary to the healthy condition of the fleece, 
and as this in many flocks is nearly equal in weight to the 
wool, the fleeces contain from six to eight pounds or move of 
it before they are washed, for in the unwashed state they often 
weigh eighteen pounds in many of the long-woolled flocks 
in Lincolnshire. 
The whiteness of the fleece is less important in the comb¬ 
ing than in clothing wool, provided it be free from grey 
hairs. The latter circumstance does not frequently occur in 
combing-wools. There is, however, a peculiar colour com¬ 
municated by the soil, which is sometimes so deep as to in¬ 
jure the wool for particular uses, and what is of more im¬ 
portance, there is a dingy-brown colour given to the fleece 
by impoverished keeping or disease, which is called a winter 
stain; it is a sure indication that the wool is not in a tho¬ 
roughly sound state, and such fleeces are carefully thrown 
out by the wool-sorter, being only suited for those goods 
which are to be dyed dark colours. 
The fineness of heavy combing-wool is of less importance 
than the other qualities. In every fleece of this kind there 
will be a certain small portion of short clothing-wool on the 
shanks, the belly, and the throat. The clothing-wool from 
such fleeces is not often divided into more than two or three 
low sorts, and the combing-wool is seldom thrown into more 
than four sorts, that is, two sorts of the hog-wool, and two 
sorts 
