THE PRICE OF WOOL. 365 



first two, and nearly twice as much as that of the latter. 

 As the permission was granted to foreign merchants, the 

 maximum price of the article in the various localities most 

 likely formed the estimate in the permission. 



The first difficulty, therefore, which occurs in analyzing the 

 evidence collected in the second volume is the very various 

 value of wool grown in different places j prices for the same 

 weight ranging, as we see by the illustration given above, by 

 more than 100 per cent. In the course of comment on the 

 annual average, I shall have occasion to point out that entries 

 from certain places have been omitted because they would have 

 depressed the average largely below that at which it stands in 

 other localities. As a rule, for instance, entries from North- 

 umberland, Durham, and Southampton, and from the Irish 

 estates, have been excluded from the annual calculation. 



This variation in the value of wool from different localities 

 is quite distinct from the various value of wools from the same 

 locality. I have generally adopted the rule which was laid 

 down in collecting prices of corn, that, namely, of omitting 

 the entry of inferior wool, known in the accounts as broken, 

 refuse, or lock wool. So greatly does the price of the latter 

 kinds differ from that of great or gross wool, that perhaps we 

 may argue that the better wool was picked carefully from the 

 inferior produce, the more confidently, it may be, because the 

 weight of the fleece is singularly low. 



Lambs' wool, as might be expected, is not quoted so plenti- 

 fully, but varies more considerably in value than sheep's wool. 

 This variation seems to be due to demand and not to quality. 

 As a rule, lambs' wool is considerably cheaper when wool is 

 cheap than when it is dear. Occasionally it is even dearer 

 than sheep's wool. 



In order to arrive, then, at a satisfactory estimate of the annual 

 value of wool, the evidence should have been far more abundant 

 than that which I am able to offer. Had it been possible, 

 I should have wished to have obtained original information in 

 such plenty as to have been able to divide the country into 



