398 THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 



Have a large Window In a suitable position in the Weaving- Room. It is 

 impossible to make good and evenly coloured Cloth without good Light. 



With fancy colours, to avoid shading, it is much better to have two shuttles 

 in Sley." 



The effect of these operations, coupled with the extensive buying on 

 the part of the Irish Industries Association, was to put new life into the 

 industry. It has now been found possible to discontinue the special arrange- 

 ments for instruction, for stamping, prize-giving, etc., and the industry is 

 making good progress without these aids. It must be said, however, that 

 much of the cloth is still far from what it should be in point of wearing 

 quality. The twills, herring-bones, and checks intended for men's wear are 

 certainly much improved, but the plain-textured flannels, which exhibit the 

 most beautiful and characteristic colouring — the most beautiful fabrics 

 made of woollen material, for ordinary wear, in Europe — are still often so 

 loosely spun and woven as to be suitable only for ladies' costumes. A 

 great market lies before this class of cloth if, to the hereditary knowledge 

 and taste in colouring possessed by the Donegal peasantry, could be added 

 the admirable spinning and weaving found in County Galway. 



The utilization of the abundant water power at Ardara and Carrick for 

 carding machinery would also unquestionably prove a great boon to the 

 industry. In Galway and Kerry machine carding is very largely made use 

 of. I am informed that one mill in the City of Galway sometimes earns £^ 

 in a day for carding the wool of countrywomen who mean to spin it on their 

 wheels at home.* Wool is sent up there for that purpose from places so 

 distant as Gort. Carding machinery is also common in the weaving dis- 

 tricts of the Highlands. It is totally unknown in those of Donegal ; and it 

 is a matter of surprise that the Donegal industry succeeds in coping with 

 the enormous difficulty of teasing, carding, and mixing by hand labour the 

 large quantities of wool used. The provision of suitable carding machinery, 

 which would get rid of all the drudgery, and enable a better thread to be 

 spun, would seem to be directly on the path of advance for this industry. 

 Associated with this might be the erection of a simple dyeing plant, in 

 which wool could be dyed in larger quantities at a time than the people 

 can manage in their own iron pots. This, if only the native vegetable dyes 

 were used, would in no way interfere with the special artistic quality of the 

 Donegal hand-made cloth, and would, no doubt, be largely made use of. 



The Congested Districts Board is at present extending the use of the 

 new looms into the more southern centres, a school of instruction having 

 been lately established at Leenane. With this great advantage, and with 

 instruction in pattern making and dyeing, the County Galway and Kerry 

 home-spun manufacture should easily find a much larger market than it does 

 at present. 



The weaving of machine-spun yarns by hand is not properly a branch of 

 the home-spun industry. The cloth produced is quite similar in effect to 

 factory goods, while a piece of genuine home-spun differs from the latter in 

 the same way, let us say, as a page of manuscript differs from a page of 

 print. Still, although the handloom in dealing with machine-made yarns 

 has to compete directly with the factory, it continues to maintain itself 



* Prices are -zd. per lb. for white wools; 3(/. for mixed colours. Oldfashioned piecing 

 machines, which are discarded from modern factories, are the best for preparing wool for 

 hand-spinning. 



