To-day the process of washing or scouring the fleece is done by
machinery. The mohair is fed into a machine in which revolve paddles,
which thoroughly mix the fiber with the liquid in this machine. At the
opposite end from where it was fed in, the mohair is rolled out over
warm rollers, and it is ready to be spun. It is claimed, and with some
justice, that American mohair loses or shrinks about 12% to 20% while
passing through this washing machine, and that Turkish mohair only
shrinks about 13%. This may be due to the fact that some of the Turkish
hair had been washed before it was shipped to market, and that by
previous sorting some of the dirt had fallen out of the mohair. Then,
too, some of the American growers are not very careful to keep the
fleeces clean. Straw, sticks, hats, and even stones have been found in
some domestic stuff.