SUPPLY OF WOOL FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



0] 



7s- or 8s. a-yard, and if it were made of English wool 

 it would be sent back to me, and I must resort to 

 foreign wool, or foreign mixed with British, to execute 

 that order." In fine, the British wool could not be got 

 rid of without a copious importation of foreign wool to 

 aid the manufacturer in his disposal of it, as fine cloths 

 are so much better and more durable in their wear 

 than coarse cloths, that they are coming more and more 

 into demand, to the almost total exclusion of the latter. 

 Moreover, the good old custom of making home-spun 

 cloth is reviving among our farmers, and as it is excel- 

 lently suited for work-day wear, though necessarily of 

 an inferior gloss, coarse cloths will, to a considerable 

 extent, cease to be the concern of our manufacturers. 

 The only cloth, indeed, which the bulk of the people 

 will require, will be a finer material to form the garb 

 for Sunday and holiday recreation. 



(60.) Countries from which we derive our Wool. — 

 Our markets are supplied with foreign wool principally 

 from the following places : — Australia, Van Dieman's 

 Land, Cape of Good Hope, Peru, Germany, Spain, 

 and Russia. The Tasmanian fleeces are preferred to 

 the Australian, and fetch, in general, higher prices, 

 owing to their being fit for combing, while the latter, 

 though making considerable advances in fineness, are 

 still of short staple. Both are favourites with our 

 manufacturers, from their being firm in the pile, a qua- 

 lity resulting from the constant good health of the ani- 

 mal in those countries. The German wool takes pre- 

 cedence of the Spanish, and has done so since ISVO or 

 1820. The King of Spain, about the year 1800, pre- 

 iented the Elector of Saxony wilh a small merino flock, 



