SHEEP HUSBANDRY Ii\ THE SOUTH. 327 



" I.ntterly tliey (Austialiaii and Van Dieniau's Land wools) have been nJ" v:u-ied qiialititjs, 

 bat all [Hissessinfi an cxtnioulinaiy sothiess.^wliicli tlu? niannracturers hero so much admire 

 tlia' they are sought lor more than any other desc-riplion of wools, from tlial pecuhar qu;ihty, 

 whitl) is supposed to arise from the tlimate alone. Tliey are knowji to require less of the 

 milling or fulUiig power tluui any other ilescriprions of wools. . . They are better adapted 

 than the (Terman wools to mi.x with Briti.sli wools, because the superior softness which I 

 liuve stated gives a character, when mixed with English wool, that the other does not, from 

 tiie hardness of the fibre."* 



Mr. Stewait Duiiaklsoii, merchant, Loiuloji, says : 



" I have no hesitation in pronouncing that the wools of IS'ew South Wales and Van Die- 

 m:ui's Land are decidedly prefeiTod to the apparently similar descri[itions of Gerniiui wool 

 They have a softness and silkiness about them which, when woiked up into cloth, 

 siKjws it.self more distinctly llian hi llie ravv- malt-iial. I conceive that it is dependent ou the 

 climate alone. 1 am of oi)inion that wo(jl of that ipiality could not be produced iu any pait 

 of Europe. "t 



Mr. Thomas Legg, wool-stapler, Bermondsey, says : 



•• There are some of these wools of very beautiful quality, as good as any of the Gennaii 

 wools. "+ 



Mr. Thomas Ebsworth, wool-broker, London, says : 



'• The peculiarity of the climate of New South Wales appears to have a veiy great effect 

 on wool, so as to reduce it from a harshness to a very fine textm"e."|| 



This was the substance of all the testimony on this particular point ; 

 ami when it is understood that the investigation was an issue between rival 

 interests, where all the facts were thoroughly sifted, the fact that the above 

 as.-'erlions were undisputed shows that they were considered of an undis- 

 putable character. 



Alhision has already been made to the loose and careless system of 

 sheep-breeding, etc. in Australia, compared with that in Germany. Tak- 

 ing this into consideration ; taking also into cxmsideration that the flock 

 furnishing the best wool in Australia (Capt. McArthur's) is composed of 

 grade sheep (Bengal and English, graded up with Merino and Saxon rams), 

 t!ie trifling effect of climate is made more strikingly to appear. 



The statements of Mr. Cockrill in relation to the softness of the wools 

 grown in Tennessee and Mississi])pi, sustain and are sustained by those 

 above given ; and they go to show that it is the result of a general law 

 and not of any peculiar local influences peculiar to Australia 



MADDER — Informatio.v Wantkd. — We extract from a letter dated Columbia, Arkan- 

 sas, the following : 



" You have requested your subscribers to call for information on any particular agricultural subject which 

 they might suppose would be useful. I will thank you for any you can give on the cultivation of madder 

 in the United States — where seed may be had, &c." 



Our subscriber's request .shaD have due attention when we can get time. In the interim, 

 to show that we are in earnest, the Publishers of The Farmers' Library authorize us to 

 offer, as a premium, the two volumes into which The Farmers' Library a.nd Mo.sthlt 

 Journal of Agriculture for the first year are handsomely bound up. They each embrace 

 about 600 pages, and one of them contains works worth $50 to any cultivated, inquu-ing 

 farmer — if, indeed, it be not out of all character to estimate knowledge in dollars and cents. 

 This premium to be given to the best and most complete essay answering the above inqui- 

 ries, and to be awarded by a Committee to be appointed by the Farmers' Club of New- 

 York. 



• Bischoff on Wool, &c. vol. ii. pp. 182-3. t Ibid. ISS-l. t Ibid. 184. || Ibid. 184. 



(663) 



