CLOTH, a woven fabric, composed of wool, flax, cotton, or hemp, either sepa rate or mixed. Woollen cloths consist chiefly of broad cloths, kerseymeres, flannels, shalloons, serges, baizes, &c. : the two former are the most valuable, and will be chiefly noticed. The wool should be of the best quality, and in the best state of preparation, before it is sent to the loom. Formerly Spanish wool bore a very high price with us, but of late years we have, by obtaining some of the sheep of that country, established a breed, which is found to yield a finer sample than even the pure Marino. The justly celebrated Dr. Parry, of Bath, has sedulously attended to this point, and has produced fleeces, which, in regard to fineness and length of staple, are obvious ly superior, being as six to five when compared with the Spanish. Hence our woollens have latterly been less indebted to importation, and we may fairly expect to see our flocks become doubly valu able. The cloths are woven in a common loom, and the superfluous nap is taken off by a very ingenious contrivance, called the shearer, not unlike the blade of a scythe, which, with a regular motion given by various machinery, completely levels the surface, and fits it for the last process : this is done by the teazel, a kind of thistle, which grows in hedge rows, but is in many parts cultivated for the supply of manufactories. The heads
of the teazles are inserted into grooves in long battens, so as to appear, and to act, like brushes ; these brushes extend the whole breadth of the cloth, and are set all around a cylinder, which brushes the cloth by its rotatory motion, rendering its surface beautifully glossy and smooth. The appearance is, however, greatly im. proved by pressing. The coarser kinds of cloth undergo little finishing. Linens are made of bleached flax ; they are chiefly manufactured in Ireland and Scot land, both which countries derive essen tial advantages from their manufactures, especially as they produce the raw ma terial. Cotton must be imported in its raw state ; a circumstance which gives employ to many thousands of our poor ; though the muslins, calicoes, &c. are ge nerally made from the thread formed by machinery. Hemp makes SAILCLOTH, CANVAS, &c. which see. The manufacto ries for woollens and linens in the United Kingdoms are supposed to give bread to near a million of persons. The importa tion of foreign cloths is therefore very wisely prohibited. For further particu lars, see WEAVING.