OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 8

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

(Frou Oor Special Cokkispondxxt.) BRADFORD, June 7, 1907. THE FIBRE: HOW IT DIFFERS FROM HAIR. The goneral impressiofi is that true wool is a variety of hair growing from the skin of animals. Primarily the term wool is applied both to fine hair or fleece of animals, as sheep, the alpacas, and the Cashmere, come .species of goats, and to fine vegetable fibres as cotton. But in this article the term wool refers only to the fleece of the cheep, an article which from the earliest periods of the human, history to the present time has been of great importance, ranking next to cotton as a raw material for textile fabrics, and forming a very large part of the clothing of mankind. Hair is straight, wool is wavy; hair Is crisp and hard, wool is soft. Hair lies straight, and if microscopically examined ie seen to have a very smooth surface. Wool, on the other hand, is covered with almost innumerable scales or serratures very much like the edge of a saw or a fir cone. If the fibres were straight and smooth, as in the case of hair, it would not remain in the twisted state given to it in spinning, but would 1 rapidly untwist when relieved from the force of the spinning wheel ; but ; the wavy convolutions cause the fibres to j become entangled with each other and hold the fibres in close contact. Moreover, the deeper these scales or teeth fit into each other, the closer becomes the structure of the thread, and con6equently the cloth made of it. This gives to wool the quality of , felting which with hair is impossible. GROWTH OF HAIR. Mr Youatt, a well-known writer on the subject, thus describes its development and anatomy. • The skin of the sheep and of animals generally is comprised of three textures. Externally is the cuticle tcurf akin, which is thin, tough, and devoid of feeling, and pierced by innumerable holes, through which pass she fibres of wool and the insensible perspiration. Below this is the Rete mucosum, which is a second layer of the skin below the cuticle, giving colovr to the body. It is a soft structure, its, fibres having scarcely more consistency than mucilage, and being with great difficulty separated from the skin beneath. Below this is the true skin, composed of innumerable niinuta fibres, crossing each other in every direction, highly elastic in order to fit closely to the parts beneath and to yield to the various motions of the body, and dense and firm in the structure that this may resist external injury. Blood vessels and nerves countless in number pierce it and appear on its surface in the form of minute eminences, while through ' thousands of little orifices the exhal&nt

absorbent pours out the superfluous fluid. From the interior and centre of the minor membrane there proceeds a minute eminence, which, surrounded by the membrane, projects into and through the cutis, while numerous fine filaments unite to form or to surrovmd a seeming prolongation of the original papilla. In this way it gradually penetrates the cutis, the Rete mucosum, from which it takes v its colours, and then either pushing its way through the cuticle, the displaced portion of which falls in the form of" scurf, or carrying a part of the cuticle with it as & kind of sheath, it appears under the form and ;haracter of hair. FORMATION OF THE FD3RE. It must not be supposed that a fibre of wool is a solid structure forced through the skin in which it is afterwards seen. The papilla, or minute eminences just mentioned, are composed of a great number of cells containing fluid, which is obtained from the blood when that is in" a proper condition for supplying it. The cells are grouped together as they force their .way through the cuticle, the fluid evaporates, and their wall shrinks in and forms a small hollow stalk or fibre, which is round or oval, because the cells shrink simultaneously as they are projected through the skin. Those shrunken cells form the serratures or raw-like edges which have been mentioned, and of which I shall say more in the future. Just as in a saw or fir cone each point overlaps the base of the one in front of it, so do the serratures of wool, overlap each other. Wool is of a gelatinous nature like horn, and as each soft cell comes out, it forms both a partial covering and bed for its predecessor, and th^ks altogether makes one compact and continuous fibre. It must be remembered that, as the fibre is composed originally of cells, though - dried up and shrunken, the cells always remain, and under -suitable conditions can revert to some extent to their former nature. Being like horn they can also be dissolved. It is these two facts which make the operation of washing of so much importance, and underlie the property of felting or matting which is so characteristic of wool, and which in brief may be described as that property which enables a number of fibres, whether woven or merely compressed, to interlock and join together, so that they form one compactwhole, and each fibre can no longer be separated or even distinguished. SERRATURES OF WOOL. Placed under a leus of high magnifying power, each fibre of wool has the appearance of a continuous stem, showing along its margin minute serratures like teeth of an extremely fine saw, and a closer inspection reveals the fact that these are severally continuous around the entire fibre, so that they may be compared to a 6 many circular cups or calyxes set successively into each other, and all opening or pointing in the direction from the root towards the free extremity. It was by examination of a fibre of merino wool that these cup-like ridges were first discovered, but once recognised, it is very easy to detect them in coarser sorts of fibres. Upon holding up to the light a lock of wool as a single fibre it is further observed that the fibres have all permanently acquired in their growth" a form more or less twisted or spiral, like that of a corkscrew, and, by the two characteristics thus discovered, the felting and thread-forming qualities of_ wool and the valuable applications growing out of them are at once explained. In longmerino and Saxony wools these scales or projections are very distinct and sharp. _ In the Leicester, at least, the ordinary variety is quite rounded off and indistinct. In Saxony wool 2720 of these serrations are found to the inch. .The Southdown has numerous curves, but evidently more distant; the serrations are 2028. In Leicester the wavy curls are far removed from each other, and the serrations are 1860; in Australian merino, 1920 to 2450; Cape, about the same; and in some of. the wools which warm the animals, but were not intended to clothe the human body, the curves are more distant, and the serrations are not more than 480 to the inch. The wool-grower, the stapler, and the manufacturer can scarcely wish for better guides. Anyone- can verify these observations for himself. Take some hair and some fibre of wool and hold them together. The hair will hang straight and smooth; tho wool will be curly, sometimes like a corkscrew, and will have; a wavy appearance. If it is passed between the finger and the thumb, beginning with the root end, and drawn out towards the point, it will feel smooth, but if the reverse way it is sometimes possible to detect a feeling of roughness, as if the fibres were resisting the pressure and the passage of the fingers. COURSE OF PRICES. There is undoubtedly an attempt being made to> talk up merinos an 4to force a keener pace. Several of our bigger topmakers are so heavily committed that they will not sell more unless they can command a higher range of values. Every sound factor continues iintactt t but new business, especially in crossbreds, is rather slow. Tho following table shows the full course of values during the past month, and the figures given in the last column are the asking prices to-day, Bradford terms —

Description. • I T incoln tors Lincoln wetbers Yorkshire bofa Yorkshire wethers North hogi Norih wetters Half bred hogi Halfbred wtthen Shropshire hoc Shropshire wethers Super Stafford hog* .., Super Stafford wetbers ... Kent wethers Irirh hogs Irish wethers Wiltshire Down tegs Wiltshire Down ewes Devon creasy Hampshire Downs Susiex Downs Cheriot ]io»8 Blackfaced Scotch Turkey aveiaee raohair ... Cape firsts mohair... ... ... Cape winter mohair 7')'§, colonial tops ... fc'4't, colonial tops 6O'«, colonial topr, super 56'b, colomial tops 50*f, colonial tops ... 4ffi, colonial tops . , 40's, colonial tops 36"», colonial tops ... ... ... ( * d. 131 5? 13 141 13* i:<l 13 Hi I? 14 13 Ml 15 54} 151 14 1 d. 131 1? 13 14 13J 13 1?} HI Hi 14 14 13 13J 13 15 '? i? 133 9 173 ID 13 m m v\ m 22 18i 17 16 « S 9 •-» d. 131 !? 13 14 131 13 l?i 14| M| 14 14 13 15 IP ? 17j lot 12} 1 9 \ 27} 241 22 if* 16 17| 13] m r.\ 22 18] lfj 16