Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-05-24
rAnrs ABOUT WOOL.
Am EXPLANATION Of Many Things Unknown
20 Most Readers.

TO Most Readers.
Wool ia a kind Of hair. The hair is Q
nlant rooted in the skin Its root is q
cone. connected with the sensitive layer
OF the skin, whence it draws sustenance.
It's life is not Identical with the life OF
the body, for hair grows more or less
after death. This root OF the hair"
exudes the hair pulp, which Is formed
into cells containing the pigment giving
color to the hair, and each row OF
these cells forms ring. AS the ring
of cells is pushed away from the skin
by the giving out Of fresh pulp from the
root, the cells dry, and scales are formed.
almost like the scales of fish. hair
seen through q microscope Is thus .
long tube formed by a sheath made up
Of these rings of scales. The human
hair is usually long, straight and regu-
lar, and the scales are so fine and so
close together that the edge appears
like the teeth of very fine saw. Goats
hair has more rapid growth and longer
cells, so that it is less regular and
straight, and shows little of the tooth
like edge. The hair of sheep Of the
common sort Is also irregular, with q
tendency to curl or wave, but with
marked tooth-like edges. This is wool,
and it is the tendency to twist and the
barbed projections which give this fiber
its peculiar advantages. The hair OF
the negro, with its tendency to kink OF
curl, is mockingly called wool" be-
cause 1t TO this extent resembles the hair
of the sheep. Curly hair Is, as matter
of fact. less perfect than straight hair.
But through all this rsnge-of the
human plant, goats hair and Sleeps
wool-nature shows such close grada-
lions that 1t would be difficult to draw
an exact line between hair and wool, or
in this respect to separate the sheep
from the goats. Witness the Angora
goat, whose fleece, known as mohair, is
reckoned superior wool, and the Peru
Wan alpaca or llama. The microscope
distinguishes very clearly, however, be-
tween wool and silk, the fiber of which
is an even double f1lament of gum
exuded by the silk-worm; and between
wool and the vegetable fbers, such as
cotton, which, growing as tube, dries
into half twisted ribbon, having no
barbed edge. The root of the hair has
a natural tendency to dry up as warm
weather approaches, allowing the hair
to fall free from the skin; thus animals
''shed their coats" But when hair lie
cut, as with human beings, or the
fleece sheared, as in the case Of sheep,
nature adapts itself to the demand upon
it, and growth is continuous The num-
Der Of these fibers is wonderful. On the
pelt of full-blood ram, DIR. Cutting, OF
the Vermont Board Of Agriculture, reck-
oned with his microscope s22, 800 70 the
square inch; an ordinary open-wool
sheep will have one-thirtieth as many.
The cultivated sheep, yielding the
fine, regular woods for which mOderB
machinery calls, has been. like that
machinery, virtually the development
of the last hundred years, and with the
modern race-horse, furnishes the most
extraordinary examples of economy as
an Intelligent art. OF these woods two
distinct orders are recognized. The
longer staples, in which also the fiber
is straighter and the barbs less marked,
are called "combing wools," because
they are Strengthened out, much as hair
Is, by combs. and laid fiat together for
spinning into the smooth, hard, tightly
twisted yarns which make the fine,
hard-finished fabrics called ''worsteds'
so named from the village of Wor
stead, in Norfolk, where Flemish weav-
ers. brought over by Edward III. about |
1881. made this kind of goods. The
shorter staples, more curly and Wild
marked barbs, are called ''carding
wooIs.'' because they are treated by
cards like the curry-comb used for
horses, before spinning, and these make
the ''woolens" proper, thicker and softer
and more like felt. The shorter woods
also make felt, which is produced not
by weaving. but by mating or beating
together the flbers, until the barbs OF
the wool catch into each other, and thus |
make a continuous fabric somewhat as |
paper is made. But these woods grade
into each other perceptibly-nature
rarely Jumps: and the invention OF i'm
proved combs has brought into use fol |
'worsteds" many staples formerly toe
short for any thing but "woolens-" On
the other hand, the final result of These
gradatious Is found in woods SO varioui |
that they may almost be called different |
fibers. 80 different are their qualities
instead of being grouped under one
word wool r. R. Bowker, in Har- |
per's Magazine.