SERGE. A woollen quilted stuff, manufactured on a loom with four treadles, after the mannerrof rateens, and other stuffs that have the whale. The goodness of serges is known by the quilting, as that of cloths by the spinning. Of serges there are various kinds, denominated either from their different quali ties, or from the places where they are wrought. The most considerable is the London serge, which is highly valued abroad. The method of making the London serge is described in the Word Encyclopedia to be as follows :—For wool, the longest is chosen for the warp, and the shortest for the woof. Before either kind is used, it is first scoured, by putting it in a copper of liquor, what more than lukewarm, composed of three parts of urine and one of water. After having stayed long enough for the liquor to dissolve and take off the grease, &c. it is stirred briskly about with a wooden peel; taken out of the liquor, drained, and washed in a running water; dried in the shade, beaten w•: sticks on a wooden rack, to drive out the coarser dust and filth, and then picked clean with the hands. Thus far prepared, it is greased pith oil of olives ; and the longest part, destined for the warp, is combed with large combs, heated in a little furnace for the purpose. To clear off the oil again, the wool is put in a liquor composed of hot water, with soap melted therein ; 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 cards, and then spun on the wheel, without being scoured of its oil. It must be remarked, that the
thread for the warp is always to be spun much finer, and better twisted than that of the woof. The wool both for the warp and the woof being spun, and the thread divided into skeins, that of the woof is put on spools, unless it have been spun upon them, fit for the cavity or eve of the shuttle ; and that for the warp is wound on a kind of wooden bobbins to fit it for warping. When warped, it is stiffened with a kind of size, generally made of the shreds of parchment ; and when dry, it is put on the loom, and wove in the common method. The serge, when taken off the loom, is carried to the fuller, who scours it in the trough of his mill with fuller's earth, first purged of all stones and filth. After three or four hours' scouring, the fuller's earth is washed out in water, brought by little and little into the trough, out of which it is taken when all the earth is cleared ; then, with a kind of iron pincers or plyers, they pull off all the knots, ends, straws, &c., sticking out on the surface on either side; and then returning it into the fulling-trough, where it is worked with water somewhat more than lukewarm, in which soap has been dissolved, for nesr two hours : it is washed out till such time as the water becomes quite clear, and there be no signs of soap left ; tF.en it is taken out of the trough, the knots, &c. again pulled off, and then put on the tenters to dry. When well dried, it is taken off the tenters, and dyed, shorn, and pressed.