WOOL 179 



In the winter Spanish sheep, from time immemorial, have 

 been driven down from the bare and bleak uplands to the 

 sheltered lowlands for pasturage. The Romans appointed 

 officials to look after these sheep walks, and the word, which 

 originally meant ' inspector ', came to mean the animals 

 inspected. 



In the Middle Ages England produced wool, and Flanders 

 manufactured it. But in the reign of Edward III Flemish 

 weavers began to settle in the east of England, and Norwich 

 became the centre of the woollen manufacture. These 

 Flemings taught us the arts of fulling, bleaching, and dyeing 

 cloth, and from this time onwards we began gradually to 

 export woollen cloth instead of raw wool. The Eastern 

 Counties became famous for their worsted, and the Western 

 for their broadcloths. Later on, York, and Halifax, and 

 Manchester were added to the list of woollen towns. 



After the Industrial Revolution, however, all this was 

 changed. As soon as machinery, worked by steam, took the 

 place of the ancient spinning-wheel and hand-loom, the coal- 

 fields determined the position of manufacturing districts, and 

 the towns of Yorkshire outstripped in importance the older 

 manufacturing towns of the south and west. 



SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The fc chalk and limestone hills of 

 England provide excellent pasturage, as do also the uplands 

 and mountains of Scotland and Wales. On June 5, 1916, there 

 were in the United Kingdom nearly 29 million sheep ! l For 

 our own use here at home we need 566 million pounds of 

 wool a year, without reckoning the amount we use for our 

 exports. 2 Our own sheep supply us with 136 million pounds 

 a year, the rest we import. 



We buy wool from various countries, but within our own 

 empire we have an almost unlimited supply. 



1 In England 14 + , Scotland 7 + , Wales 3|, Ireland 3| millions. 



2 In 1913 we exported 80 million pounds of yarn, and 105 million yards 

 of woollen and worsted cloth, to say nothing of carpets, and flannels, and 

 hosiery (over 2 million dozen pairs of stockings and socks), travelling 

 rugs, &c. 



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