If to the cobbler there is nothing like leather, so to the carpet manufacturer there is nothing like wool. Yarn made of wool seems to be the ideal material for the surface of a carpet. Wool is capable of being spun easily into yarn of any required count or thickness; and such yarn can be dyed to any shade, and woven into any fabric. When woven, it will retain its appearance and stand reasonably hard wear better than most similar textile materials. Its liability to the attacks of moths may be urged; but, after all, carpets are made as much for use as for ornament, and it is well known that the clothes moth only works when he is undisturbed. Of subsidiary yarns, perhaps cotton is the most important. This is used for a large proportion of the chain warps of all kinds of carpeting. It is also occasionally used for weft, and in its lowest qualities for stuffers. Flax yarn, more generally known in the trade as linen, is used in considerable quantities, especially as chains for Axminster, and as weft for Wilton and Brussels carpets. Its combined strength and pliancy, coupled with a certain degree of stiffness, make it a most useful fibre. Jute and hemp, having regard to the total production of all kinds of carpet, are probably used in greater quantities than any other yarn. Jute is cheap and strong, and is invaluable as a filling to give weight and handle to a fabric. It has the disadvantage of being liable to decay if it becomes wet, and in this state, if used in too large a proportion, of causing the disintegration of a carpet. Of other materials that are sometimes used for the backing of carpets, mention must be made of ramie, which has been tried as a substitute for linen yarn, which it resembles a good deal in character, being strong and pliant, but inelastic. The cost, however, has proved to be prohibitive. Various mixtures of jute and wool, or of cotton and wool, have been tried, and have their values as combining weight with resilience. Paper yarn, though seldom as a matter of fact under its own name, has been tried as a substitute for linen, cotton, and jute, as weft, chain, and stuffer. It can be spun or twisted into a presentable yarn in a variety of counts; and a yarn that will weave and weave well. During the war, owing to their shortage of other fibres, the Germans used considerable quantities of paper yarn for weaving cloths, webbing, harness, equipment, and even carpets, which no doubt served their purposes tolerably well. It was, however, a development pursued rather from necessity than from choice. They had plenty of wood, which we have not; and they lacked the wool, cotton, and jute. Paper yarn cannot seriously compete in price with jute, nor in value with cotton, for use in carpets. It is, moreover, particularly liable to deterioration from dampness. CHAPTER III DYEING