THE WOOL-COMBER.

The Wool-comber clcanses and prepares wool in a proper state to be spun into worsted yarn, &c. for weaving and other purposes.

This is a very ancient trade in this country, wool having long been reckoned one of its staple commodities. The raw material, as is well known, is the hair or covering of the sheep, which, when washed, combed, spun and woven, makes worsted, many kinds of stuff, and other articles, adapted to the use, comfort, and even the luxuries, of life.

The invention of wool-combing is ascribed to Bishop Blaize, the patron saint of the trade, and also of the clothiers, in honour of whom a splendid festival is annually kept by the whole body of wool-combers on the third of February. But, we think, there is more of fable than reality in this honour to the bishop.

While the wool remains in the state in which it is shorn from the sheep's back it is called a fleece. Each fleece consists of wool of different qualities and degrees of fineness which the wool-stapler, or the wholesale dealer in wool, sorts, and sells in packs, at different rates, to the wool-comber.

The wool which is obtained from the skins of sheep which are killed, and not shorn, is of a different quality, in regard to length, from the shorn wool, and is used by the wool- combers principally for making stockings, for which, from being longer, it is much better calculated; and hence one reason why knit-stockings arc stronger than wove ones.

The wool intended lor the manufacture of stuffs is brought into a state adapted for the making worsted by the wool-comber. He first washes the wool in a trough, and, when very clean, puts one end on a fixed hook and the other on a moveable hook, which he turns round wiih a handle, till all the moisture is drained complefeiy out. It is then thrown lightly out into a basket. The' wool-comber next throws it out very lightly into thin layers, on each of which he scatters a few drops of oil ; it is then put together closely into a bin, which is placed under the bench on which he sits: at the back of the wool-bin is another and larger one, for what is called the noyles, that is, the part of the wool that is left on the comb after the sliver is drawn out.

There arc in each comb three rows of teeth parallel to one another. The best combs are manufactured at Halifax, in Yorkshire ;
the teeth are made of highly-tempered steel, and fixed into a very smooth stock, in which is inserted a handle, nearly in a perpendicular position. Each workman has two of these combs ; tbese he makes pretty hot by putting them into a jar, made of clay, called a comb-pot, in which there is a fire made of the best burnt charcoal.

.When the combs are hot, he pnts on each a certain quantity of wool, having first disentangled it from all knots and other obstacles
that might impede the operation. He then combs the wool from off one comb on to the other, alternately, till it is exceedingly smooth ; when having again heated the combs, he fixes each on an iron spike, placed in the wall for the purpose, and draws out the wool into a fine sliver, often times five or six feet in length ; what is left on the comb is called a noyle, and is fit only for the manufacture of blankets and coarse cloth.

The business of the wool-comber varies in different counties : some, as the wool-combers in Hertfordshire, prepare it only for
worsted yarn, &c. ; others, as those in and near Norwich, prepare it for weaving into camblets and other light stuffs.

Sometimes the worsted is required to be very white : in that case, before it is dry, after washing, it is hung up in a close room, iu
which a charcoal fire is burning; on the fire some finely-powdered roll-brimstone is thrown, and the room made air-tight, so as
neither to admit the external air, nor suffer the vapour from the sulphur to escape.

In general, four wool-combers work at the sanme pot, which is made large enough to admit of eight combs. There are, of course,
four distinct benches and bins, of both kinds, in each shop. In almost every work-shop is an hour-glass, by which they measure the
time; the care of this fall to the lot of a particular person. On the side of the wall are placed two ballads, of which, in general, there
are several in the wool-coinber's shop.

The journeymen work by the piece, and will earn fmrn sixteen to twenty shillings per week. Like people iu many other trades, they often make holidays in the early part of the week. They come on a Monday morning, and having lighted the fire iu the comb-pot, will frequently go away, and, perhaps, return no more till Wednesday, or even Thursday. The men in this trade have a curious custom, the same with the hatters when out of work, they set out in search of a master, with a sort of certificate from their last place ; this they called going; on the tramp; and at every shop where they call, and can get no employment, they receive one penny, which is given from a common stock, raised by the men of that shop. A spare bench is always provided in the shop, upon which people on the tramp may rest themselves.

Wool-combing is preparatory to the manufacture of worsted yarn, and is the first process towards the making of flannel, serges,
sttuffs, baize, kerseys, &c.

A pack of wool, which weighs two hundred and forty pounds, being made into stuffs, serges, &c. will employ two hundred persons. And when made into stockings, it will afford work for a week to one bundred and eighty- fonr persons, viz, ten combers, one hundred and two spinners, winders, &c. and sixty stocking-weavers, besides doublers, throwers, and a dyer.