Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1869 — Washing Wool in Germany. [ARTICLE]

Washing Wool in Germany.

TiJE WOoess of washing is done under the roof,i and, accordingly, no sudden showers, or rainy wwither can interfere with it. .Before tin*. shower 'hath is administered to the sheep, their dirt and pitch lias to he dissolved or loosened. For this purpose a soaking vat is put up, winch is cohered and tightly put.togetlier of strong planks or boards. It .is tilled with dipt water, equal to eighty-four ■degrees Fahrenheit ; the gfjeep areyhen placed-in two lines and constantly 'handled until .tint yolk and dirt gre dissolved, which ordina* riiy takes from fifteen to twenty minutes. The solvent effiijc.t,of the hot water is ; increased by addingfew poundsof potash, and also by, the 1«« arising from the natural oily matter of the wool. The sheep, after being well.floaked, are placed under shelter,.where they, have to wait their tum .shower-bath, in order that the animal, now too much heated, may .riot pass, immediately from., .the hat soaking yitfggto the shower-bath, this being from sixty-one io Wtftjatbree cflegrees Fahrenheit. * The water is let upon the sheep through** tiositf, Vfth a'strsfner upon .the end. It JBjt® with erthsridefahie yslojß- - and is brought-to bear upon all parts of the sheep until the wool is of a snowy whiteness. The sheep are then driven to a warm, dry shelter, arid shorn as spon.gs the wool is dry, generally about the sixth day. On'an average, forty sheep are thus washed innn liont. ' * .■