1 Nov., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 447 
The length of the wave is generally in proportion to the diameter of the. 
fibre. We therefore recognise the degree of fineness in a wool sample by the 
size or the fineness of the wave. The waves of some wools are smaller than a 
pin’s-head, and those of the Leicesters and: Cotswolds are bigger than a pea. 
The number of the waves on the space of 1 inch furnishes a pretty reliable test 
of the fineness of the sample. ‘The assortment of extra super, for instance, has 
28 to 32 waves on the space of 1 inch. The assortment super, 24 to 28; prime, 
22 to 24; seconds, 18 to 20 (of the German inch), which is very nearly of the 
same length as the English inch. Block manufactured an instrument by whieh 
the number of waves in the space of 1 inch can easily be ascertained. ‘The 
instrument consists of an hexagonal piece of tin, each side of which is exactly 
Linch long, and which contains a number of serrations corresponding to «the 
number of waves of each assortment to the space of 1 inch. 
By placing the sample to be tested for its 
hexagon and trying to which side of it the way 
degree of fineness can easily be ascertained, 
Similar instraments haye been constructed by Pabst and Hartmann. 
By the use of any of these instruments a beginner will soon be able to 
distinguish between the various degrees of fineness by which the assortment is 
determined. 
Prueness.—It is easily understood that the number 
on the length of 1 inch chiefly depends upon the diameter of the fibre ; therefore, 
the difference in the size of the waves on the same wool fibre prove that where 
the wayes are larger the fibre must be thicker; where the waves are of the 
same size, the diameter or, in other words, the fineness of the fibre is the same 
throughout. Such fibres are called “true”; where, on the contrary, some parts 
of the fibre exhibit larger or differently shaped waves, we say the fibre is “untrue.” 
I have very frequently obseryed this untrueness in ill-bred flocks. We must 
distinguish, however, between apparent and real untrneness. Let us suppose 
the sheep had been well fed, and had been in good health up to a certain time, 
and had, later on, suffered from starvation, caused through want of water or 
scarcity of food. In such case the waves in the upper part of the staple will be 
larger than in the lower part, and nce versd. (7) In this case the difference 
in the fineness of the fibre has been caused through irregularity in the nutrition 
of the fibre. ‘This would be a case of apparent untrueness, such as will 
disappear so soon as the animals are well fed. Real untrueness (4) shows itself 
in the form of an entirely irregular wave, or in the disappearance of waying 
altogether in one part of the fibre. I have examined great many specimens of 
this kind of fibre. Viewed under the mi 
: 1 : MCrOscope, untrue fibres show the 
irregularity of their diameter much more clearly. (c¢) Real untrueness 
is not easily accounted for. It is only found amonest crossbred or illbred 
fineness against any side of the 
es of the sample fit nearest, the 
of waves to be counted 
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