Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-06-03
FACTS ABOUT WOO,
An Explanation Of Many Thine. -,
To Mnsf Ran.I.-- y" Nhknq

.--"J ASHnRA guLn
to Most Readers. nown
Wool Is kind OF hair. Tho
plant rooted in the skin. Its roa. -
cone connected with tho sensitiva
OF the skin, whence 1t draws sustan.
Its life is not identical with thu ~.
the body, for hair grows more - ~ y
after death. This root of tho .e's
exudes the hair pulp, which ia to Aa'f
into cells containing the pigment ,,,,.a
color to the hair, and each re ling
these cells forms ring. As tho VI
of cells is pushed away from M ing
by the giving out of fresh pulp from st q.
root the cells dry, and scales are fonl ele
almost like the scales OF a fish ou
seen through a microscope Ia - uair
long tube formed by sheath mad aus
Of these rings OF scales. Tho -, up
hair is usually long, straight and ran "a
lar, and the scales are so fine ana gu
close together that the edge Ans. %
like the teeth of very fine saw t.,
hair has more rapid growth and lonass
cells, so that it is less regnlon
straight and shows little of tho +oa. INV
like edge. The hair of sheen ~ ~
common sort is also irregular ,,i.,
tendency to curl or wave. hnt '.l.,t
marked tooth-like edges. This il ~ 'n
and it is the tendency to twist and ~
barbed projections which give this sha s
its peculiar advantages. The hair y,
the negro, with its tendency to kinL
curl, is mockingly called wool ), "
cause 1t TO this extent resembles tho h.i.
OF the sheep. Curly hair is, as a matt.
of fact less perfect than straight bain
But through all this range-of H.
human plant. goats hair and shaw
wool--nature shows such close rrad.
lions that it would be difficult to draw
an exact line between hair and wool or
in this respect to separate the sheen
from the goats. Witness the Anoorp
goat, whose fleece, known as mohair IL
reckoned a superior wool, and the parn.
Wan alpaca or llama The microseono
distinguishes very clearly, however h.
tween wool and silk, the fiber of winch
is an even double filament of prro
exuded by the silk-worm; and between
wool and the vegetable fibers, sucb az
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 skim thus animals
shed their coats" But when hair ia
cut as with human beings, or the
fleece sheared, as in the case of sheen
nature adapts itself to the demand unon
II and crpomfh ic onp
Der of these fibers is wonderful. On the
pelt of a full-bood ram, Dr. Cutting. Of
the Vermont Board of Agriculture, reck.
oned with his microscope 222, 800 to the
square inch; an ordinary open-wool
sheep will have one-thirtieth as many.
The cultivated sheep, yielding the
fine, regular woods for which modern
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, whore Flemish weay.
ers brought over by Edward Ill. about
1881, made this kind of goods. The
shorter staples, more curly and with
marked barbs are called ''carding
Wools," 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 fbers, until the barbs OF
the wool catch into each other, and thus
make continuous fabric, somewhat as
paper is made. But these woods grade
into each other imperceptibly-
rarely Jumps; and the invention OF i'm
proved combs has brought into use fol
Worsteds' many staples formerly tos
short for any thing but ''wooiens On
the other hand, the final result of theS
gradations is found in woods so Yarlou'
that they may almost be called different
tibers, SO different are their qualities
instead of being grouped under one
word wool. R. r. BoWker, in Har
per's Magazine.