SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER IX. 



PROSPECTS OF THE WOOL MARKETFUTURE DEMAND AND SUPPLY. 



iports and Exports of Trans-Atlantic Nations... Means of ascertaining their Comparative Produo- 

 bio of the Imports of England... Amount of Wool grown in the United Kingdom, Consumption, 



The Im 

 fion...Ta 



of Asia Minor Same of Persia Same of Independent Tartary Same of Afghanistan and Beloochistan 

 Same of Thibet, Little Bucharia, and the remainder of China fame of the Cape of Good Hope Same of 

 Australia and Van Diemen's Land... Conclusions in regard to Comparative Facilities, etc., of above Na- 

 tions and the United States... The Northern States can compete with the most favored of them and of 

 course the South can, to much greater advantage... The South might safely embark in Wool-Growing, re- 

 lying on the European Market alone. ..Rapid Extension of that Market Past and Future. ..But the Ameri- 

 can Wool-Grower is not compelled to seek a Foreign Market. . .Our Production does not meet the Demand 

 of our own Manufactories. . .Table of the Imports of Wool into the United States... Table showing 

 whence we Import Wool... Letter from Samuel Lawrence, Esq., showing the increasing call for Man 

 ufactories The Stability of existing ones andJtheir ability to compete with those of Foreign Countries..' 

 Extent of our Consumption of Woolens above the Supply made by our Manufactories... Table of Imports 

 of Woolens... Probable Increase of our Manufactories ... Reflections on the Tariff... Rapidly Increasing 

 Consumption of our Population Amount Consumed per head. . -Table of Increase of our Population... 

 Future Increase. . .The Amount of Wool Necessary at various Future Periods. 



Dear Sir : Probably there are few men who now dream of any danger 

 to the wool-grower of the United States, in the home market, from trans-At- 

 lantic competition. But there is another point of view, in which a glance 

 at the facilities of the eastern nations, for the production of this staple, may 

 not be uninteresting. May we not undersell them with the raw material, in 

 their own markets ! He who carefully and intelligently examines all the 

 fects involved in the solution of this question, will find, in spite of the vague 

 popular impressions which prevail on the subject, that so far at least as 

 those nations are concerned, which now produce the greatest amount of 

 the*wool which supplies the markets of the Old World, the United States 

 can, if satisfied with equal profits, easily undersell them. 



As an importer of the raw and exporter of the manufactured article, 

 England occupies the first place. In these particulars, she probably ex- 

 ceeds, by fully one-half, all the other nations of the Old World. France 

 ranks next, and largely takes precedence of the remaining nations. Hol- 

 land, though shorn, by disastrous political revolutions, of much of her an- 

 cient importance in this class of manufactures, still maintains a trade of 

 some magnitude. Several of the German and Prussian States export par- 

 ticular descriptions of woolens ; Italy sends out some light cloths ; arid 

 Turkey the carpets of that name. A full exhibit of the exports of all tho 

 wool-producing nations, would not, of course, lead us to an accurate knowl- 

 edge of the amount of their production for there is no one which does 

 not manufacture the raw material to some extent. But with what knowl- 

 edge we can obtain of their manufactures, the former information would 

 enable us to ascertain, approximately at least, the amount of their produc- 

 tion. This is all that is necessary for our present purpose, for we do not 

 now, in reality, so much seek their actual as their comparative production. 



England, as I have before remarked, is the great importer and exporter. 

 Her duties on imported wool are, as has been seen,* exceedingly low, and 

 she makes no discrimination in this particular, in relation to bottoms, or 

 the places of export.t The vastness and variety of her demand giTe a 



* See Letter VIII. 



\ With the exception, of course, of her own Colonies, from which it is exported free. 



