328 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



a letter written in 1677 the fall of rents in England, which had 

 caused the value of estates to sink from twenty-one to sixteen 

 or seventeen years' purchase, is ascribed mainly to the low price 

 of wool, 1 owing to the prohibition of export and increased im- 

 ports from Ireland and Spain. It was now, said the writer, 

 worth yd. instead of nd., and a great quantity of Spanish wool 

 was being sold in England at low rates. These ' low rates ' were 

 2s . and is. id. a Ib. for the best wool, whereas in 1 660 the best 

 Spanish wool was 4.?. and 4s. id. a Ib. 



We have seen 2 that Spanish wool was imported into England 

 in the Middle Ages. In 1677, according to Smith, 3 England 

 imported 2,000 bags of 200 Ib. each from Spain 4 ; in the three 

 years 1709-11, 14,000 bags ; in the three years 1712-14, 20,000 

 bags ; and about 1730 some came from Jamaica, Maryland, and 

 Virginia, and down to 1802 imports were free. 5 In that year a 

 duty of 5J. 3*/. a cwt. was imposed, which in 1819 was raised to 

 56^. a cwt., which, however, was reduced to id. a Ib. on is. woo 

 and \d. alb. on wool under is. in 1824. In 1825 colonial woo 

 was admitted free, and in j 844 the duty taken off altogether, anc 

 imports from our colonies and foreign countries soon assumec 

 enormous proportions. Down to 1814 nearly all our imports 

 of wool came from Spain ; after that the greater part came from 

 Germany and the East Indies ; but Russia and India soon 

 began to send large quantities, and in recent times Australasia 

 has been our chief importer, in 1907 sending 321,470.554 Ib., 

 while New Zealand sent 158,406,255 Ib. out of a total import 

 of 764,286,625 Ib. About 1800 our imports of wool were 

 8,609,368 Ib. ! 6 Of our enormous imports of wool, however, 

 a very large quantity is re-exported. 



1 Smith, Memoirs of Wool, i. 222. 



2 See above, p. 38. 3 Smith, Memoirs of Wool, ii. 252. 

 * M c Pherson, Annals of Commerce, iii. 156. 



5 MCulloch, Commercial Dictionary, p. 1431. For imports see Ap- 

 pendix, p. 354. 



6 Of which 6,000,000 Ib. came from Spain. The first Spanish Merino 

 sheep were introduced into Australia in 1797. See Cunningham, Industry 

 and Commerce, ii. 538, and cf. below, p. 354. 



