be packed separately. When the mohair is
received by the mill it is sent to the sorting room.

SORTING BY THE MANUFACTURER.

Each goat's fleece is made up of a variety of different grades of
mohair. Before a fleece can be spun it must be separated into these
different grades as nearly as possible, and this is done by expert
sorters, who select from the raw material about seven different degrees
of fineness of fiber. They also take into consideration freeness from
kemp and color. In separating the fleece much dust is liberated, and as
some mohair is liable to carry the bacillus of anthrax, or other
dangerous material, this dust, if allowed to circulate in the air, would
become a serious menace to the health of the sorters. Wool sorters'
disease is by no means uncommon, and one of the American mill owners
reported that his sorters had such a dread of a foreign mohair which
came packed in a distinctive package, that he had to stop handling this
particular lot, although it was profitable stuff to spin.

[Illustration: MOHAIR TRANSPORTATION IN CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY.

Photo taken by Dr. Bailey.]

To obviate this danger as far as possible each man opens the fleeces on
a table covered with wire screen, under which circulates a strong
exhaust current of air which is mechanically generated. Thus small
foreign particles and dust in the fleeces are drawn downward. When the
fleece is opened the sorter selects that part of the fleece which is
known to be the coarsest, _i. e._, the breech and a strip along the
center of the back, and puts this in one lot. Next he selects a narrow
strip along the side of the fleece, which is known to be the finest part
of the fleece, and puts this in another lot. Now the neck and the belly
are separated and thrown into their classes. If the whole fleece were a
fine one, and free from kemp, it would be sorted in the same way, but
different parts of the fleece would go into proportionately higher
classes. The lots which these sorters make are known to spin
comparatively definite qualities of yarn. Thus the low breech and the
back of most fleeces will not spin over No. 20 to No. 24 yarns, and the
sides of good fleeces are fine in fiber and will spin No. 40 to No. 60
yarn.

The quantity of mohair which one man can sort varies considerably,
according to the class of mohair which he is given to work upon. One
mill estimated that experts can sort between two and three hundred
pounds of domestic moh