522 



FARMERS' REGISTE 



[No. 9 



Although these tables onfy apply to particular districts, yet they corroborate the unanimous as- 

 sertion of the manufacturers, that British short, wool has generally degenerated in quality, while 

 the increase of weight also appears from the following account, produced by Mr. C. Bull, wool 

 stapler, of Lewes: — 



STATEMENT OF THE RESPECTIVE WEIGHTS OF FIVE TODS OF WOOL, THE PRODUCE OF 

 DIFFERENT FARMS, AT DIFFERENT PERIODS, BETWEEN THE YEARS 1803 AND 1827, IN- 

 CLUSIVE. 



There are still, no doubt, some Down-land 

 flocks, in which the original quality of the wool 

 has been sustained;* and others in which it has 

 been even improved by crosses with foreign 

 eheep; but, wherever the now almost universal 

 system of feeding on artificial grasses and rools, 

 and fattening at an early age, has been intro- 

 duced, the deterioration is, with very few excep- 

 tions, evident. It is therefore clear, that high 

 feeding is incompatible with the production of 

 fine wool; and the farmer will henceforward find 

 it most prudent to make his election of the breed 

 he means to adopt, with a view to one object alone. 

 That this has been already done, to a very great 

 extent, appears from the large increase which is 

 supposed to have been made within the last thirty 



* The evidence of Mr Ellman, of Glvnde, is to 

 that effect; and shows also that the weight of fleece of 

 his own flock has diminished about six ounces since 

 1S17. 



years, in the heavy long-woolled sheep, while the 

 lighter carcassed short-woolled breeds have dimin- 

 ished. 



According to Mr. Luccock's tables, published 

 in 1805, and to the calculations of the Wool Com- 

 mittee at Leeds, presented to the House of Lords 

 in 1828, the number of packs of wool of the sev- 

 eral qualities at the respective periods, have been 

 estimated as follows: 



1800, short-wool 193,475 1800, long- wool 131,794 

 1828, do 120,655 1828, do 263,847 



Decrease 72,820 



Increase 132,053 



The preference which thus appears to have 

 been given to the long-woolled breeds, has not, 

 however, wholly arisen from the superior profit to 

 be obtained from the carcass; but from British 

 short wool having been to a great extent thrown 

 out of our cloth manufactures, while an increased 



