MAKING WOOL WHITE: A NEW PROCESS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4147, 28 November 1870, Page 2

MAKING WOOL WHITE : A NEW PROCESS.

Now that; the wool-scouring and sheep-shear* ing season is fast approaching, anything tending to throw light upon this subject, to expedite the process, or to so improye the article that a higher price will be obtained in the market for the raw material, musb be interesting to our agricultural readers, if not to all ; for the settlers in this province at least are almost all landowners, if not landworkers. The following particulars respecting a new process of giving a beautifullywhite colour to wool are condensed from an article upon the subject in a German industrial journal. The quantity of ingredients mentioned is intended for a parcel of wool weighing aboat 5001b., but of course a similar proportion could # be maintained for a greater or less quantity. Make a bath by dissolving in warm water 21b. of alum, 181b. of cream ol tartar, lib. of sulphuric acid, 181b. of starch, 61b. of sulphate of indigo, and 31b. of orchil. Immerse the wool in this bath at a temperature of 122deg. Fab.., for three-quarters of an hour. In this way the wool will get suoh a whitesh tone that many may be satisfied with it, but the white may be made much deeper by rinsing the wool out in clean water, aud then transferring it fosa short time to a weak bath consisting of a solution of one pound of chloride of barium. This it is said gives a rich satin whiteness to the wool so treated, and at the same time considerably increases its weight. It is also alleged that the wool does not lose its natural • softness, but remains free from crispness, and ia easily wrought up by the manufacturer. If the plau possess the advantages at'ributed to it, the price of the chemicals used cannot be much, and some of our agricultural friends might put it to the test upon a small quantity of wool. If the plan were found to be successful, wo should suspect that the baths could be made up as they began to diminish, and thus the expense of operating on large quantities of wool would be reduced.comparatively.