Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1886 [PAGE 239]

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231 hesitate about approaching it. In the examinations we have made, very considerable attention was given to the fineness of the fibre upon the top of the folds in the Merino skin as compared with that produced upon smooth skin. In the former We find many fibres more or less resembling hairs, and the average of all samples &how the fibre to be much coarser upon these parts than elsewhere, and often as coarse as the fibres of the ordinary coarse wools. The introduction of such wide variations in the quality of the fibre raises the question that it seems difficult-for breeders to decide: Can these disadvantages be counter-balanced by increased weight of the fleece due to the wrinkles or folds? There is at any rate no question of the following facts: 1. Wool from the tops of wrinkles is much coarser than that from between them and from smooth skin. 2. The coarser fibres are about as coarse as the ordinary coarse wools. 3. The fibres are more or less heavy, are stiff and harsh, lacking in pliability, and hence undesirable in fine goods. 4. The wool upon the wrinkles is much less dense and is shorter than that upon the smooth skin. There may be conditions of breeding, such as hardier constitution, heavier fleece, etc., that must be taken into consideration in the improvement of common flocks, but the results just described show that growers of fine wools should seriously consider the desirability of excluding from their flocks these greatly wrinkled animals. The relation of the "crimp" of the fibre in Merino wools to their fineness has always been a subject of more or less discussion among those interested, and in the course of our examinations, having ample material, we took occasion to develop it. In the case of such sample of Merino or Southdown wool examined, the crimp was carefully determined and stated in the number per inch of length of the staple in the sample, and after the fineness had been determined, the two data were compared. Taken as a whole, the figures show that the fineness varies directly according to the closeness of the crimp, and that with this condition the fiber as a rule is much finer than in case of more open crimp; that with increase in the number of crimps per inch there is a decided decrease in the average diameter of the fibre, so that in this condition all interested in the staple have here a ready means for the general determination of its value as regards fineness. More definitely it appears that with different crimps per inch the fineness in the Southdown and Merino wools vary about as follows :

Number of crimps per inch.

12, It. 16. 20. 22. 25. 2fi 30.

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2.8to3.27 2.2 " 2.8 2.2 " 2 . 6 2.1 " 2 . 2 4 1.8 " 2 . 0 1.8 " 1.9 1.7

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