The filaments of wool taken from a healthy sheep present a beauti fully polished and even glittering appearance. That of the neglected or half-starved animal exhibits a paler hue. This is one valuable in dication by which the wool-stapler is enabled to form an accurate opinion of the value of the fleece. The mixture of hair in the wool can often be detected by close examination with the naked eye, but most readily by the assistance of a microscope.
Among the qualities which influence the value of the wool, fineness, and the uniformity of that fineness in the single fibre and in the collected fleece have hitherto held a first place. This fineness, however, differs materially in different parts of the fleece. It prevails on the neck, the shoulders, the ribs, and the back, It is less on the legs, thighs, and haunch, and still coarser on the neck, the breast, the belly, and the lower part of the legs. The fineness of the wool is con siderably influenced by the temperature. Sheep in a hot climate yield a comparatively coarse wool ; in a cold climate, they carry a closer but a warmer fleece.
The fineness of the fleece is also much influenced by the kind of food. An abundance of nutriment will increase both the length and the bulk of the wool. This is an important consideration with the sheep-breeder. Let the cold of winter come—let it continue for a considerable period, yet if the sheep be well kept, although the fleece may loan a little weight, this will be more than compensated by its fineness and increase of value. If the sheep, however, be half-starved while he is exposed to unusual cold, the fibre of the wool, although perhaps somewhat finer, will be deficient in weight and strength and wet u Inees.
What is called trueness of staple, or the fibres being of an equal size, is of much importance in the manufacture of wool, for whenever the wool assumes an irregular and shagged or breathy appearance, there is a weakness In the fibre and will be an irregularity in the manufecture, especially if the fleece is submitted to the operation of the comb. Connected with this, and a most important quelity, is the elasticity of the woolly fibre—the disposition to yield, or submit to some elongation of substance, some alteration of form, when it is distended or pressed upon. and the energy by means of which the original form is resumed
as soon as the external force is removed.
Referrible to this elasticity or yielding character of the wool is its plielality and softness, and without which no manufacture of it can be carried to any degree of perfection. The last quality which it is neces sary to mention is its filing property, that quality by which it many be beaten or pressed together and a orked into a soft and pliable substance of almost any size and form. It would seem that the process of felting is of far older date than that of weaving. and it is still continued not only by the nomadic tribes of southeastern Europe and of Asia, but it is made occasionally to vie with the finest productions of the loom.
Microscopic observations have unravelled the whole mystery of felting, and of the employment of wool in almost every form. Tho fibre, examined under a powerful microscope. appears like a continuous vegetable growth, from which there are sprouting, and all tending one way, from the root to the other extremity, numerous leaves, or serra tures, assuming the appearance of calices or cups and each terminating in a sharp point. It is easy to conceive how readily one of these fibres will move in a direction from the root to the point, while its retraction inust be exceedingly difficult. if not impossible. It was a fibre of Merino wed that was first submitted to microscopic observation, and the number of these serrations or projections counted. There were 2400 in the space of an inch. A fibre of Saxon wool finer than that of the Merino, and of acknowledged superior felting quality, was substituted. There were 2720 serrations. A fibre of Southdown wool, in its felting power well known to be inferior to that of the Saxony and the Merino, was placed in the field of vision. There were only 20S0 serrations in the space of an inch, or 640 less than the Saxony exhibited. The Leicester wool is acknowledged to possess a less felting property than the Southdown. There were only 1860 in the space of an inch. Latterly the length of staple and the lustrous character of the wool have become qualities of high order, 80 that the lung-wools of Lincoln shire are now of greater value than the short-wools of Sussex.