Wool

the fine, soft hair which forms the coat of the sheep and similar animals. Wool is the second in importance of textile fibers, cotton standing first. The coat of wool shorn from a sheep at one time, usually one year's growth, is called a fleece. A fleece remains intact when taken from the animal, because the fibers are entangled naturally to a degree sufficient to hold it together. At the mill the fleece is unrolled by the sorter, who separates it into from six to twelve parts or grades. The finest wool is from the shoulders of the animal. The average weight of a fleece is from five to ten pounds. The heaviest recorded American fleece was taken from a Kansas ram and weighed fifty-two pounds. In scouring, wool loses about one-third of its weight. Scouring, rinsing, and drying are performed by machinery. This cleansing process leaves the wool harsh and wiry, and, as a certain degree of pliability is necessary for carding and spinning, it is subjected to a shower of lard oil or olive oil or of both, delivered in a fine spray. If burs, leaves, or seeds are entangled with the fiber, they must be removed. This is done sometimes by a mechanical process whereby the burs are beaten until they break and the pieces fall out. Another method is that of burning out the foreign matter by means of acids and a high degree of heat. Vegetable matter is entirely "carbonized," or reduced to a crisp, while the wool, being an animal substance, remains uninjured. The wool is then ready for carding and spinning. Commercially wool is divided into three classes:

1. Clothing wool, also called carding wool. This is the short fiber and is carded and spun without combing. 2. Combing wool, the long stapled wool, from four to ten inches in length. 3. Carpet and knitting wools, which are long, strong, and very coarse.

See Sheep; Felt; Worsted; Bradford