124 Extracts from the Journals. [July, 



clear. The shearing should then take place as soon as the sheep 

 become dry after washing. 



Then comes the tying up of the fleeces. 



All the loose locks, clippings and tags, and every thing un- 

 clean, or of an inferior quality, and the coarse wool from the 

 thighs, if there be any, should be wholly rejected, and the 

 fleeces tied up firmly, so as to keep their shape, and show, as is 

 customary, the best part of the fleece on the outside. 



This terminates the w^ool-grower's part; but I will here re- 

 mark, that sheep should be kept as nearly as possible in uniformly 

 good health and flesh, because every portion of the staple or fibre 

 of the wool which grows while the sheep are very poor from dis- 

 ease or want of food, has so little strength as to break in work- 

 ing; and ii this weak growth takes place in the fall of the year, 

 it destroys the fleece for many purposes. 



The next step is to properly sort and sack the fleeces, and direct 

 them to the best market. This is the merchant's part, and more 

 than a shipper's profit depends upon its being performed under- 

 standingly. 



In England each manufacturer devotes his attention to one par- 

 ticular description of goods, for w^hich his machinery has been 

 constructed, and he makes no other. The makers of each kind of 

 goods have established themselves mostly together in some one 

 part of the kingdom, where they have a wool market of their own, 

 in which they seek for the qualities and descriptions suitable for 

 their purpose, and will buy no other. The broadcloth makers in 

 the West of England; the Worsted Combers of Yorkshire; the 

 flannel manufacturers of Rochedale, and those who make hosiery 

 in Nottingham; purchase in their several markets a supply suita- 

 ble only for their own machinery. So nice does this discjimina- 

 tion run, that the fleeces of fine wool, taken from sheep one year 

 old, which were never before shorn, are mostly sent to one part 

 of the country, and there sold to be used for one purpose, and 

 the fleeces taken from the same sheep the next year, are sent to 

 another part of the country, and there wrought into a very differ- 

 ent kind of goods. Thus it is of great importance that fleece 

 wool for shipment, before it goes on board, should be sorted and 

 sacked according to the grades of foreign manufacturers, and suit- 

 able for their purposes, in order that it may be sold directly to 

 them — otherwise, even if clean and in good order, it must pass 

 first through other hands, that re-sort it, re-sack it, and distribute 

 it to various parts of the kingdom at considerable expense. 



The size of the bales is the next thing to be kept in view. I 

 have paid on large shipments as high as one dollar per bale for 

 "Dock Dues," without reference to the size of the bales; while 

 at some ports the charge is less than on6-tenth part of this sura. 



