1 Noy., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 445 
5 
We notice that the wool of wild animals—such as the hair—and uncultivated 
Wools show great irregularity in their diametrical formation, and that the wool 
of highbred merinoes approaches the circular form. It stands to reason that 
a thread, made of equally fine and perfectly cylindric wool fibres, must be more 
€ven than a thread made of flat, quadangular, and irrregularly shaped fibres. 
Pineness.—In common life we employ the term “fine” to signify an article 
of beauty. or value, and in this meaning of the word a fine bit of wool does not 
always signify fibres of a fine diameter. Tn speaking of wool, however, we shall 
use the term “fineness” exclusively to express a small diameter. 
As it requires a very accurate eye to make fine distinctions as to the fine- 
hess of different samples of wool—an efliciency which can only be acquired by a 
sreat deal of practice—several instruments were invented to test the fineness of 
Single wool hairs, for the purpose of fixing a standard of measurement. It 
would lead us too far away from the practical object of these lines if I were to 
Sive a minute description of the various more or less ingenious contrivances 
applied for measuring the degree of fineness of a sample of wool. The best 
results, however, can only be obtained by the use of a microscope and its 
micrometer. 
The degree of fineness of a wool does not pl 
value of it at present as it used to do in former 
much appreciated by the manufacturer, For this reason we must not lose 
sight of it. Really fine wools do even now fetch hich prices. 
Taking fineness as the base for valuation and for determining the assort- 
ment of wool, the woollen manufacturers haye fixed a certain standard for 
assortments, which, however, do not coincide quite with each other, owine to 
different weights and measures employed, although the principle employed is 
the same. Those nations who have adopted the metric system indicate the 
fineness of the wool by the number of metres that can be spun out of one 
kilogram of perfectly clean wool, ready for spinning, Tn England the standard 
Is fixed by the number of yards that can be Spun out of 1 1b. of wool. To 
determine the degree of fineness of a sample or a fleece of wool, we must trust 
to the naked eye. This will do for all practical purposes, and every person. 
with anything like an accurate sight will soon be xble to make all practically 
necessary distinctions. 
In order to judge the fineness—i.e., the proper assortment to which a fleece 
belongs —we have to take several other points conjointly into consideration ; for 
instance, the waving, the division of the sample into finer skeins, &e. Fineness 
may be judged with some accuracy by placing several samples together on a 
piece of dark cloth (sleeve, hat), &c. Fine wool, to be valuable, must be 
in perfectly healthy condition. Wool that is fine in consequence of sickness or 
starvation is not valuable, owing to want of strength and elasticity. Fine wools 
are generally short. The finest Silesian wools of former years did not surpass 
1 inch in natural length of staple. Lately, however, thesé fine wools have much 
improved in length. Both in Germany andin Australia T have seen exceedingly 
fine wools that were fully 2 inches long —a proof that even fine wools,may be grown 
into good length by careful breeding in a suitable climate and in favourable 
localities. 
Waving.—Vhe wool of most cultivated sheep has 
appearance, because each fibre is bent into more op less regular half-circular 
curves. This waving must not be confounded with the curly, or rather spiral, 
formation of some kinds of the hair of the human head, the latter having the 
form of a screw. The French call those curly, spirally formed staples ¢ire- 
bouchons (corkscrews). We may easily form a screw by winding a piece of ” 
wire round a pencil moving from one end to the other. This is not the normal 
growth in wool. The waving of the wool proceeds in a straight, not spiral 
direction. ‘These waves form one of the most important points in valuable 
wool. Ina wave we distinguish its length and height, and we observe four 
different formations :—1l. The length of the wave is greater than its height, so 
that the wool has a straight, sleek character, desirable for all kinds of wool that 
haye to undergo the process of combing. 2. Length and height are equal. In 
! 
ay So important a part in the 
times, yet it is still a quality 
an undulated or wavy 
