Mohair

“ The annual product of mohair in the United States is estimated at over 1,000,000 pounds. Closely allied to mohair is the fine cashmere wool of India, which is the product of the Cashmere goat, common in the Himalayan Mountains about Tibet. The hair is even longer than that of the Angora goat, but is not as curly. The surface of the fibres is not as brilliant as mohair, and the scales are more numerous but less distinct. Only the finest parts of the fleece are used, the yield from a single goat being rarely more than 3 or 4 ounces. Cashmere wool is said to be the most costly of all the wools. ”

“ The mare, prancing and whirling again, he held her with a touch of rein and threat of spur, and gazed after the four-footed silk that filled the road with shimmering white. He knew the significance of their presence. The time for kidding was approaching and they were being brought down from their brush-pastures to the brood-pens and shelters for jealous care and generous feed through the period of increase. And as he gazed, in his mind, comparing, was a vision of all the best of Turkish and South African mohair he had ever seen, and his flock bore the comparison well. ”

“ In Turkey, after the fleece is shorn, the owner packs each fleece separately in sacks. He picks out the tag locks, colored fleeces or objectionable mohair, and after washing it, or making it more fit for market, he packs this in a sack by itself. Every village has its buyers, usually Greeks or Armenians, and there are a few traveling buyers. These men gradually collect the mohair. Men who have more money28 than they need put that money into mohair, as mohair is always salable, and it is so bulky that there is not much danger of it being stolen. ”

“ The Stone Fly.—The body is made of brown mohair ribbed with yellow silk, a tuft or tag of yellow mohair or silk at the tail, and a little yellow mohair worked in under the shoulder, over which roll the hackle, which should be of a brown-red colour; the wings are made of the hen pheasant tail mixed with copper brown mallard, made full, and larger than the body. ”

“ 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 mohair a day, and that it costs about a cent a pound to thus separate the fleece.33 After the fleeces are graded, the mohair is ready to be sent to the mill proper for scouring and spinning. ”

“ Some alterations have been made for the purpose of facilitating the reader in his choice of materials, and the feathers indicated are, in most cases, those of our own birds, which may be easily procured, and are quite as suitable as the foreign ones given by Ronalds. Mohair is the best material for the bodies of trout-flies, and though others are sometimes named as being an easier method, the experienced amateur will prefer mohair, with which he will produce the same effect, without any of the objections to which all other materials are liable ”

“ If the manufacturer has to do this, he puts a price on the mohair which will leave him plenty of margin. That is, he pays the grower about one-half as much as the mohair would be worth if it were free from this foreign material. If the mohair is very burry, it has to be treated chemically, and this spoils the luster. Sometimes the grower can make good wages by having the burs picked out before the animals are shorn. One man can pick the burs out of from fifteen to twenty-five animals a day, if there are not too many burs in the mohair. ”

“ When the kid is born he is covered with a coarse hair, and it is not until he is from three to five weeks old that the fine mohair fibers appear growing between the coarser hairs. The kid continues to grow gradually, and at three or four months he weighs from twenty to forty pounds. The mohair may now be from two to four inches long. At a year old the Angora goat will weigh from fifty to eighty pounds, and the mohair may be as long as twelve inches, or sometimes longer. ”

“ At present Asia Minor and South Africa can be regarded as the two leading producers of mohair. The Asia Minor exports vary considerably, according to the price allowed, and as no manufactured stuff is exported, one gets a fair idea of the amount produced. ”

“ In the first decade of the 20th century the mohair braid trade received a blow from the introduction of artificial silk.
The history of the introduction of the Angora goat from Asia Minor into the other countries mentioned is as follows. In 1838 pure bred Angoras were introduced into Cape Colony—cashmeres having been previously tried and found unsatisfactory. These pure-bred goats crossed with the common goat ”

“ Do not neglect to tie in the larva tightly below the wings at the shoulder, to prevent it drawing out from the mohair body. You must hold on tight and press it well down with the nail of the right thumb, as you do the wings when tying them on last. ”

“ It can be readily seen that a manufacturer who wants a particular kind of mohair can get exactly what he wants, if he knows the kind of mohair which comes from the different districts, and the grade of mohair which is put up under a certain mark by a certain firm. He can order of Mr. B. one hundred bags XX Beibazar mohair, and he knows what he is going to find when he opens the bags. There is a large room in Constantinople where a gang of men are almost constantly29 at work sorting mohair. The commission men have their store rooms around this central room; when the sorters finish with Mr. ”

“ There is no plush made which will give the service, present the luster and retain a standing pile as37 long as mohair. One may crush the nap of a mohair plush as often or as long as he pleases, but the pile immediately resumes its upright position upon being released. Then, too, the dust shakes out of a mohair plush very easily. One rarely sees a dusty railroad car seat, although the country through which the car is passing may be very dusty. The rich effect produced by a heavily upholstered palace car is due to the mohair plush. ”

“ Lustre Dress Fabrics.—This class of union fabric, when woven with a fast black dyed cotton warp and a worsted mohair weft, is representative of union fabrics in general, and the treatment of this material when in its grey state applies to the majority of union fabrics. The warp is generally a 2/80's, i.e., a strong yarn, and the weft, say, a 1/14's. The warp being dyed prior to weaving, there only remains the weft to be dyed after the unfinished cloth leaves the loom. ”

“ Imitation.
Body.—Black mohair spun thickly on black silk.
Wings.—The dun feather of a mallard wing. The wings lie flat upon its back, and the upper fibres of the hackle should be cut off.
Legs.—A dark grizzled hackle. This is a late fly.
No. 5. Cow-Dung Fly.
This fly is to be found throughout the year. It is most abundant in March, and during a high wind it is blown upon the water. The color of the male is a tawny yellow; that of the female a greenish brown.
Male.—Imitation.
Body.—Yellow and light-brown mohair mixed, spun on light brown silk. ”

“ Moha ́di (Mahommed) , the twelfth imaum, whom the Orientals believe is not dead, but is destined to return and combat Antichrist before the consummation of all things.
*** Prince Arthur, Merlin, Charlemagne, Barbarossa, Dom Sebastian, Charles V., Elijah Mansur, Desmond of Kilmallock, etc., are traditionally not dead, but only sleeping till the fullness of time, when each will awake and effect most wondrous restorations.
Mohair (The Men of) , the citizens of France. ”

“ Italian cloth is usually a weft-faced fabric. Like all fabrics woven with a weft-faced satin weave, the weft or filling threads are practically all on the surface of the cloth, producing an even, close, smooth surface capable of reflecting light to the best advantage. Italian cloth is generally cross-dyed, that is to say, woven from a black warp and grey weft, afterwards dyed in the piece. It may be woven either as an all-cotton, a cotton and worsted, a cotton and wool, or a cotton and mohair fabric. ”

“ Where the horsetail reeds grow up in a dense forest of dark-green from out the shallow parts of the mill-dam, the Moorhen is often common enough, and rears its young from a floating nest some distance from the bank where only boats can reach it. ”

“ The Eggs and Nest of the Moorhen.—I should like to add my mite of evidence to that of those who have already given theirs in favour of the view that the Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) does not, as a rule, cover her eggs when leaving the nest. I have seen very many nests of the species under consideration, and I have never yet seen one in which the eggs had been intentionally covered over, and indeed I will go farther, and say that I have never met any collector or ornithologist who had. ”

“ I have been told by old men in New England, who remembered the time when the Mohawks made war on their Indians, that as soon as a single Mohawk was discovered in the country, their Indians raised a cry, from hill to hill—a Mohawk! a Mohawk!—upon which, they all fled like sheep before wolves, without attempting the least resistance. ”

“ You have no trees, nor camels, nor sheep, nor sand, nor goats,” continued he; “nor are your women made like ours. You do not inhabit the earth, but are born, live, and die in your houses that float on the sea.”
The greatest luxury of a Moor is to see his wives and daughters richly dressed, and on them he exhibits all his opulence by ornamenting their ears, arms, and legs with rings of gold and silver.
They have no knowledge of the arts and trade, though they make in a rude manner, pikes, knives, and even kettles, from the native iron which is furnished to them by the Negroes. ”

“ In order to praise themselves and their people, whenever we tell them they are very expert at catching deer, or doing this and that, they say, Tkoschs ko, aguweechon Kajingahaga kouaane Jountuckcha Othkon; that is, "Really all the Mohawks are very cunning devils." They make their houses of the bark of trees, very close and warm, and kindle their fire in the middle of them. They also make of the peeling and bark of trees, canoes or small boats, which will carry four, five and six persons. ”

“ The Mohawks, who passed freely through the throng, were its most picturesque feature. The world bred no more haughty savages than they. Tall men, with high cheek bones, and fierce eyes, they wore little clothing in the summer weather, save now and then a blanket of brilliant color for the sake of adornment. ”

“ Nearly a hundred summers have passed since the occurrence of the events we have been describing. The war-whoop of the cruel Mohawk sounds no more from the forest-ambush, nor in the clearing; the dews and rains have washed away the red stains on the soft sward, and green and peaceful in the sunshine lies the turf by the beautiful river and on the grave where the patriot mother is sleeping; but still in the memory of the sons and daughters of the region she once blessed, lives the courage, the firmness, and the goodness of Nancy Van Alstine, the guardian of the Mohawk Valley. ”

“ The moorhen is one of our most familiar wild birds; for not only is it common and generally distributed in the British Islands, but where it is not molested, and the stream, or pond, or ditch it inhabits is close to the homestead, it becomes almost domestic in its habits, and will freely mix with the poultry and share their food. ”

“ The Moor-hen may often be seen swimming in the open water of rivers and ponds; which it does with much grace and swiftness, with a nodding motion of the head; it frequently picks floating seeds, shells, or insects, from the surface. It is very wary, and on the approach of an intruder it either dives, or rising just high enough to flap its wings, flutters along the surface with much plashing, to gain the nearest cover. ”

“ Seven or eight eggs are laid, reddish white in ground-colour, thinly speckled and spotted with orange-brown. The young when hatched are covered with a black hairy down. Two or three broods are reared in the season, and it has been observed that the young of the first brood sometimes assist the parents in making a new nest and in rearing the young of the second brood.
The moorhen feeds on worms, slugs, insects of all kinds, and vegetable substances. ”

“ And always there was moorghy [8] —moorghy boiled and fried and roasted, moorghy cutlets, moorghy curry, moorghy stew. “Nice old person,” said Helen, the first time it appeared, “he has given us fowl! Dear old patriarch.” “He may or may not be a dear old patriarch,” George responded, fixing grim eyes upon the bird, “but he is tolerably sure to have the characteristics of one. You aren’t acquainted with the indigenous moorghy yet, Helen. You regard him in the light of a luxury, as if he were a Christian fowl. He isn’t a luxury out here upon my word. ”

“ The Moor-Hen abounds on all suitable sheets of water, and it is a bird that can be conveniently studied because, as a rule, there is nothing, except the rushes that fringe the pool, to hinder us from obtaining a panoramic view of the whole proceedings, and moreover the area occupied by each individual is comparatively small. ”

“ The author also gives his experience on a question now being discussed in these pages as to the nesting habits of the Moorhen. He states that during his residence in the neighbourhood of Elstree, owing to the depredations of Carrion Crows, "I do not think I can call to mind one instance of a Moorhen succeeding in hatching off her first clutch of eggs. The species has to depend for its perpetuation on the growth of reeds and rushes, which the old birds bend over their nests and thus hide their eggs." ”