The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-11-12
Curled Hair-SubStances for Fillino
Mattresses.

| w non W. ooAsiueT InaL One-thlrd of a
mans life is spent in bed, we do NOT
wonder that he has come to be particu-
lar about what he sleeps on, nor that
the manufacturers have endeayored to
make an easy couch for tired humanity
Curled hair occupies the first place as .,
filler for mattresses, and we doubt II r.
will be possible to find any material to
answer this purpose SO satisfactorily.
Numerous substances have been tried
some have worked well, others have
been utter failures. but the one has been
accepted as filing for cheaper Grade
OF work than hair, and the others have
been cast aside. Nearly all the expert
ments have been made with vegetable
matter, but this lacks the STAYING elias
ITCHY of the hair and after short time
will mat together.
Aside from this, no other use than as
flller OF mattresses and the upholstery
OF furniture can be found for curlcd
hair. SO we must conclude that hair
will continue to hold its supremacy and
be looked upon as a luxury when Cheap
er articles crowd their way into the
market. South America supplies En-
gland, France and America with the
greater proportion of the curled hair
that they use. The four ports of Buenos
Ayres, Montevideo, Rio Grande and
San Rosario export 100000 pounds
II horse hair, and of this fully one-third
q to America. Great droves of
7es roam about the plains in
portion of South America.
. " tire 80 are killed for their hides
..i sc as well as hair, but the great
FropOrtion of hair is taken from live
-sOrses that are corraled, shorn of their
names and tails and allowed to 90 free
again to raise another crop of hair. The
names and tails are thrown into piles,
and afterward baled up into packages
weighing 1000 pounds each, and
shipped. The manufacturer receives
these bales, and the first process is to
sort the hair by colors. 1t is then
hacked, or made straight, and all loose
foreign substances and dirt removed.
The value of the hair depends upon its
length, and the next step is to make an
assortment into the different lengths.
This is done in picker. The longer
hairs are used in making haircloth, the
middle lengths 60 to the brush makers
and the short hairs are curled. Having
obtained all the short hairs, the work
men braid them into ropes about the
size of ones finger. The hair is then
boiled to get out all the animal matter
and baked to set the "kink." The
ropes of hair are nowready to be coiled,
and they are made into bundles weigh
ing forty pounds each The best hair
sells for forty cents pound. Cheaper
grades of hair are made by mixing pigs
hair with the horse hair Pigs hair is
worth about six cents a pound. Cat
tie hair is not used to any great ex-
tent for mattresses. The animal smell
cannot be altogether taken away from
it, and the warmth of the body will soon
make mattress offensive if it is used.
Cattle hair is used for carriage uphol-
STEERING and serves the purpose well.
Before it is used the hair must be I'M
braided and picked apart. This is done
by hand, and many women find en-
ployment at this work. Among the
many articles that have been brought
forward for the filling of mattresses,
the article called "eXcelsior is the
cheapest and the one most generally
used. This is made of poplar wood,
which is torn into shreds by machinery.
A great deal of this comes from Maine
and New Hampshire, and it sells for
from twenty dollars to twenty-five dol
lars ton. A great many "soft top"
mattresses are used. These are filled
nearly full with the excelsior, and an
upper layer of jute, tow or cotton is put
in to give the mattress a soft top. Husks
are also largely used. The inner husks
of corn are stripped and dried. and
sometimes braided into great ropes,
but more often they are baled up after
the stripping. A great many husks
come from Connecticut and Maryland.
Wool mattresses are filled with shoddy
wool that has been made by picking
rags into shreds in picker. This is
worth from five to eight cents pound
Palm-leaf waste from the hat shops has
been very popular filling for many
years. 1t is braided into great ropes,
and as it is very tough it does not break
up, as many other vegetable substances
do. A very good filling is made from
the husk of the cocoanut, which is torn
into shreds and dyed black. 1t is very
clean and free from foreign substances
The moss that grows upon the trees in
the swampy regions at the south is
gathered by the negroes, buried in the
earth to give it color, and then sold for
filing. OF this there are four grades,
the most costly of which is the cleanest
A filling called the "close fibre" is
made from the underbrush which grows
under the pine trees at the South. The
leaves are split and run through CORFU
gated rollers, to give them kink, and
then baled up.-Anerican CultiOatoT.