296 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



' Our two time-honored competitors in the production of fine wool, Spain and Germany, 



V r 1 1 . P .1 J^__1J rt'1_ - ! * J r.l T i m ,r ' 



kets. We have been enabled to supply a good article in vast and ever-increasing quanti- 

 ties and at prices which, notwithstanding the cost of carriage, have, through our facilities 01 

 production, left us a remunerating profit, but which our ancient rivals have found to be i- 

 sufficient to replace prime cost. 



" But although Spain and Germany have ceased to vie with us as sellers of the raw mato 

 rial in England, they have done so only to renew the contest in another form. They have 

 enlarged their manufacturing operations. Since they can no longer sell their fleece at a profit, 

 they have resolved on working it up in their own looms. To that extent, therefore, they will 

 cease to import wrought woolen fabrics ; and in so far as their imports were from Great 

 Britain, there will be a corresponding decrease in the British consumption of our wools. Tho 

 woolen cloths imported into those two countries from Great Britain, in the year 1841, amounted, 

 in declared value, to 1,026.481 sterling ; and if we add the quantities imported in the samo 

 year into Holland and Belgium, the amount would have been about a million and a half. We 

 must therefore be cautious, as prudent men, not to allow our spirits to be too much exhilarated 

 by the apparent victory we have gained over ' our hereditary enemies,' seeing that, though 

 seemingly vanquished, they have but shifted their position and varied their tactics. 



" A judicious writer says, in 1844 : ' Of late years cottons have, from their cheapness, in a 

 great degree superseded the lower qualities of cloths a circumstance which, joined to the 

 increasing rivalry of France, Germany and Belgium, renders it improbable, unless new mar- 

 kets shall be opened in China or elsewhere, that much extension will in future be given tc 

 our manufacture of woolen cloths. 1 * 



" While, however, the Spanish and the German wool-growers have thus ceased (or are 

 expected veiy shortly to cease) to compete with us as exporters to England, another com 

 petitor has sprung up in a new and quite unexpected quarter. In addition to corn, bread- 

 stuffs, rice, tobacco, cotton, sugar, and an endless catalogue of ' notions,' in which Brother 

 Jonathan has hitherto prided himself as a mighty producer, he has now taken it into hia 

 head that he can breed sheep and export wool on a large scale. And it would seem that in 

 England his whim has by no means been thought whimsical. For, say certain Liverpool 

 brokers to him, under date of 3d September, 1846 : ' The arrivals of wool from the United 

 States last year, for the first time to any extent, made quite a sensation in this country, as it 

 was generally considered that you required to import these qualities, and there was no 

 knowledge that your growth of wool was of such importance. We have seen it estimated 

 at sixty-Jive million pounds ;t and from your vast (and to us almost incredible) means of 

 production, we believe it will cause a kind of revolution in the wool trade.' 



" Jonathan's own opinion of the matter is thus expressed through the medium of the New- 

 Orleans Commercial Times : ' Wool can be grown as cheaply, and to as great advantage, in 

 the cotton-growing States as in any part of the world. There is nothing in the climate to 

 prevent it. If it may be found desirable to grow that of the finest grades, it can be done 

 without fear of the animals becoming covered with hair in a few years.' He has evidently 

 some misgivings, however, as to the policy of his attempting the finest grades, for he imme- 

 diately subjoins, ' However, we are inclined to think that wool of a coarser quality will be 

 found most profitable, mutton being also an object with us.' 



" If the United States already produce four times the quantity of wool that we do, and if 

 there is a reasonable chance of their producing it of a quality equal to ours, and at no greater 

 cost, then have we indeed much to fear from their formidable rivalry. The vast extent of 

 their territory, the almost illimitable resources of their soil and climate, the indomitable spirit 

 of their citizens, combined with their proximity to the British market, will render their com 

 petition, if successful at all, successful in no ordinary degree. 



" ' Wool,' says another Liverpool correspondent, addressing an American, ' requires in it 

 production great attention in crossing the breed, otherwise the quality degenerates verv 

 quickly. The maintenance of its fineness depends also very much on the nature of the pat 

 turage on which the sheep graze. And we may remark that your own samples are of a par 

 ticularly good kind.' " 



Hero is a word of encouragement for the Americans, with a word of caution for the An 

 Iralians. Of the two requisites for the production and preservation of a superior staple, one. 

 writable pasturage, s bountifully suppKed to the Australian grower by Nature, while the 

 other depends upon his own industry and skill. In this, it is to be feared, he has scarcely 

 been just to himself. He has possibly presumed too much upon the natural advantages of 

 the fine sheep-sustaining country in which his capital is staked. It will be well if this note 

 of waniing from the land of Stars and Stripes shall rouse him to a more vigilant attention. 



[Simmonds's Colonial Magazine 



* Watcrton's Cyclopaedia of Commerce, p. 672. 



f The quantity of wool exported from New South Wales, including the district of Port Philip, in the yeai 

 1843. was 17,5&i,7d4 Ibs. 



