SERGE, in commerce, a woollen stuff manufactured in a loom, of which there are various kinds, denominated either from their different qualities, or from the places where they are wrought; the most considerable of which is the English serge, which is highly valued abroad, and of which a manufacture had been for some years carried on in France.
In the manufacture of serges, the long est wool is chosen for the warp, and the shortest for the woof. But before either kind is used, it is first scoured, by putting it in a copper of liquor, somewhat more than lukewarm, composed of three parts of fair water and one of urine. After it has staid in it long enough for the liquor to take off the grease, &c. it is stirred briskly about with a wooden peel, taken out, drained, washed in a running water, and dried in the shade ; beaten with stick; on a wooden rack, to drive out the coar ser dust and filth ; and then picked clean with the bands. It is then greased with oil of olives, and the longest wool comb ed with large combs, heated in a little furnace for that purpose : to clear it from the oil, it is put into a vessel of hot soap water, whence being taken out, wrung, and dried, it is spun on the wheel. As to
the shorter wool, intended for the woof, it is only carded on the knee with small fine cards, and then spun on the wheel, without being scoured of its oil ; and here it is to be observed, that the thread for the warp is always to be spun finer, and much better twisted, than that of the woof.
The wool both for the warp and woof being spun, and the thread reeled into skeins, that of the woof is put on spools, fit for the cavity of the shuttle ; and that for the warp is wound on a kind of wood en bobbins, to fit it for warping; and when warped, it is stiffened with a size, usually made of the shreds of parchment; and, when dried, put into the loom, and mounted so as to be raised by four trea dles, placed under the loom, which the workman makes to act transversely, equally, and alternately, one after ano ther, with his feet ; and as the threads are raised, throws the shuttle. See