air a day, and that it costs about a cent a pound
to thus separate the fleece. After the fleeces are graded, the mohair
is ready to be sent to the mill proper for scouring and spinning.

SCOURING.

To-day the process of washing or scouring the fleece is done by
machinery. The mohair is fed into a machine in which revolve paddles,
which thoroughly mix the fiber with the liquid in this machine. At the
opposite end from where it was fed in, the mohair is rolled out over
warm rollers, and it is ready to be spun. It is claimed, and with some
justice, that American mohair loses or shrinks about 12% to 20% while
passing through this washing machine, and that Turkish mohair only
shrinks about 13%. This may be due to the fact that some of the Turkish
hair had been washed before it was shipped to market, and that by
previous sorting some of the dirt had fallen out of the mohair. Then,
too, some of the American growers are not very careful to keep the
fleeces clean. Straw, sticks, hats, and even stones have been found in
some domestic stuff.

MIXING.

After the mohair is thoroughly cleaned it is ready for spinning or
carding. In order to spin the fibers most economically, evenly and to
the best advantage, some of the mills mix different qualities of mohair
of about the same fineness. For instance, Turkish mohair is mixed with
Texas and California stuff, or Oregon is mixed with Iowa material. The
spinning qualities of mohair from different sections varies, and this
mixing tends to give uniformity. After the fibers have been mixed to
suit, the mohair is run through straightening machines in preparation
for the combing process.

FIRST OR NOBLE COMB.

This comb is so arranged that about two and a half inches of the base of
all of the mohair fibers, and any other fibers which may be mixed with
them, are held, the ends of the fibers which are longer than two and a
half inches, hang freely and are caught in a revolving machine and
dragged loose from the combs which hold the base of the fiber. Thus only
those fibers two and a half inches long, or less, are left in the first
comb. The longer fibers, or tops as they are now called, to distinguish
them from the noil, or short fibers, are collected and are again passed
through a second comb.

SECOND OR LISTER COMB.

Much the same process as was gone through with in the Noble comb, is
repeated, except that now only the Noble top is combed, and as all of
the fibers, less than