arps would be
needed. The first solution, however, that of the merchant undertaking
the warping himself, was the surer, and there was no doubt as to its
being the one destined for selection in a period when a tendency to
centralize organization, responsibility and all that could be easily
centralized, was steadily gaining in strength."[20]

Guest says the system by which the weaver was supplied with warps and
other material was substituted for the purchase of warps and cotton-wool
by the weaver about 1740. No doubt the change was very gradual,
especially as Aikin mentions the use of warping-mills in the 17th
century. The weaver as a rule received his weft material in the form of
cotton-wool and was required to arrange himself for its cleaning and
spinning. According to Aikin,[21] dealers tried the experiment of giving
out weft instead of cotton-wool, but "the custom grew into disuse as
there was no detecting the knavery of the spinners till a piece came in
woven." As it was impossible to unwrap the yarn and test it throughout
its length, defects were hidden until it came to be used, and the
complaints of weavers were not conclusive as to the inferiority of the
yarn, since their own bad workmanship might have had something to do
with its having proved unsatisfactory. It was therefore found best to
saddle the weaver with full responsibility for both the spinning and
weaving. Women and children cleaned, carded and spun the cotton-wool in
their homes. The cotton had to be more thoroughly cleaned after its
arrival in this country. The ordinary process of cleaning was known as
"willowing," because the cotton was beaten with willow switches after it
had been laid out on a tight hammock of cords. The cotton used for fine
spinning was also carefully washed; and even when it was not washed it
was soaked with water and partially dried so that the fibres might be
made to cling together.[22] Most of the weaving was done by men, and
until the invention of the fly-shuttle they cast the shuttle from hand
to hand in the manner of their remotest ancestors. For the making of the
broader fabrics two weavers were required when the width was greater
than the easy stretch of a man's arms. Sometimes cloths were woven wide
and then split into two or more: hence the term "splits." This became a
common practice when the hand-loom workers were groaning under the
pressure of competition from the power-loom.

The invention of machiner