Reverting to the processes of manufacture, the roll of carpet goes from the loom to the measuring table, where it is measured by hand or machine before passing to the finishing or “picking” room. Here it is first dried by passing over a steam-heated cylinder, or, in some places, by being looped over a series of rails in a warm chamber. Then the back of the carpet is picked; that is, the superfluous material, if any, is removed and defects remedied. The roll is then passed through a shearing machine, provided with a rapidly revolving shaft set with spiral blades, where the surface is brushed and very lightly shorn, to remove loose and projecting fibres. The surface of the carpet then is inspected by the pickers, who mend any faults left from the weaving. Their work is supervised and checked by the passers. At this stage, some manufacturers pass their Brussels carpets, particularly the cheaper qualities, through a pressing machine, in which heavy pressure on the looped pile is exerted by rollers, the object being to obtain better cover, and to prevent grinning. It is questionable, however, whether the process is of any real benefit to the carpet, as it tends to impair the handle of the fabric and the resiliency of the pile. The final stage in the finishing department is the rolling and measuring, which is done mechanically, after which the roll is ticketed, papered, and corded, and passes on its journey to the packing room, carpet room, or warehouse, as the case may be. A digression seems necessary here on the subject of breadth carpets, Cairo or Chlidema squares. Originally, carpeting was only made in body or filling 27 in. wide, and border 22½ or 18 in. wide, and in rolls or pieces of about 50 yards; and if a bordered carpet was required, 15 ft. by 12 ft., the dealer would cut it up from the pieces, using, say, four breadths of filling each 12 ft. long, and enough border, ½ yd. wide, to go all round, with mitred joints at the corners. There were several objections to this method, which is, of course, still necessarily employed in bordered carpets of unusual sizes. It involves a thick and awkward seam at the mitres, where the border has to be cut and turned under; it is wasteful, as odd-shaped bits of border are bound to be left over; and it is inartistic, inasmuch as the figures in the border never match perfectly at the mitre. Lastly, in Wiltons and in some Axminsters, it causes false shading, because, the pile naturally leaning a little in one direction, and not being perfectly vertical, the border will only tone perfectly with the body on one side of the carpet. On the three other sides the light will strike the pile at a different angle from that at which it strikes the pile of the body, and give a different effect.