1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARJklER. 



863 



down to the period of their examination. The 

 zeal and fidelity which so signally character- 

 ized the New York appraiser's official action, 

 were found equally to characterize Mr. Rice's 

 official action ; and this committee would deem 

 it unjust not to avow that, in their opinion, 

 the warm thanks of the wool growers of the 

 country are due to both of these officers, for 

 their fearless and upright administration of the 

 law. 



The attention of the committee was specially 

 directed to the practical effects of the tariff in 

 the admission of foreign wools, and particu- 

 larly to the fact whether wools which pass the 

 custom houses as third class (carpet) wools, 

 and which pay the lower duties of that class, 

 are not wholly or in part applicable to, and 

 actually used in the same branches of manu- 

 facture with Class One and Class Two, (cloth- 

 ing and combing) wools ; thus, to the extent 

 of such use, robbing the United States wool 

 grower of the protection against foreign com- 

 peting wools, avowed to be one of the princi- 

 pal objects of the law. If it can be shown 

 that wools admitted as carpet wools are thus 

 brought into competition with United States 

 wools, by being used in the same class of 

 fabrics, it either establishe;^ the fact that there 

 is no essential distinction between them, and 

 hence no ground for the distinction made in 

 the duties imposed on the respective classes, 

 or else that the terms employed in the tariff 

 classification are defective and open to eva- 

 sion. In support of one or both of the latter 

 propositions, the committee were informed by 

 individuals, that they had seen combing ma- 

 chinery in operation in certain distinguished 

 carpet mills, and knowing no occasion for its 

 use in carpet manufacture, they were led to 

 infer that it was employed to prepare carpet 

 wool, or a portion of it, to be used in other 

 fabrics. 



On the above subject, the committee took 

 the testimony of carpet manufacturers and 

 wool spinners, eminent for character and ex- 

 perience, and supposed to be particularly con- 

 versant with the wool manufacturers of the 

 whole country. These gentlemen stated that 

 they did not know of any case of wools ad- 

 mitted as carpet wools being sold or used as 

 clothing or combing wools. An experienced 

 and eminent spinner, Mr. Cameron, of Gran- 

 iteville, Mass , declared that there were in- 

 trinsic properties in carpet wools, (which he 

 described at length,) which unfitted them for 

 profitable use in any case, and even from 

 practicable use in most cases, as substitutes 

 for Class One and Class Two wools. The 

 combing machinery used in the designated 

 carpet mills was found to be used in their own 

 legitimate operations. Wool is combed for 

 carpet manufacture, the longer portions being 

 used for the warp, and the noils, etc., for fill- 

 ing' 



Taking the above statements in conjunction 

 with the important fact that there has been no 



unusual import of carpet wools since the enact- 

 ment of the present wool tariff, the conclusion 

 is irresistible that no appreciable amount of 

 the wool which passes the custom houses of 

 New York and Boston, or probably the other 

 United States custom houses, in that class, is 

 employed in the same fabrics, or brought into 

 competition with United States wools. 



The committee are fully satisfied, from the 

 results of their investigation, (hat the classifi- 

 catioik of wools contained in the tariff has thus 

 far effectually carried out in practice the ob- 

 jects it purported and was intended to embrace, 

 and that at present it needs no amendments to 

 give the wool growing interest of the country 

 full security against evasions of the law, when 

 administered by competent and honest officers. 

 Administered by incompetent or dishonest offi- 

 cers, no legal provisions could give the wool 

 growing interest such security. 



WooDCHUCKS WITH TusKS. — A reccut ac- 

 count of a horned woodchuck in the Mirror 

 and Farmer is followed by the following state- 

 ment by Mr. S, M. Baker, of Hillsboro' 

 Bridge, N. H. :— 



My boys killed one on my farm last week, 

 cf the Tusk breed. From the lower jaw, two 

 tusts over four inches in length protruded, 

 turning upward and rising one and one-half 

 inches above the head ; also two from the up- 

 per jaw, each three and one-fourth inches 

 long, one growing through the roof of the 

 mouth into the passage of the nose, thence 

 turning down and again penetrating through 

 the roof of the mouth, forming a ring large 

 enough for a uian's finger ; the other turning 

 out of the mouth like the horn of a ram. Any 

 one doubting is invited to call at my house and 

 see for himself. 



Beets for Sugar. — Attempts are being 

 again made in Great Britain to re-establish 

 the manufacture of beet-root sugar. A Mr. 

 Duncan, a eugar refiner who deals with no 

 less than 300 tons of sugar weekly, has adver- 

 tised for 6,000 tons of beet-root, to be de- 

 livered in the fall. It is asserted that the 

 failures which have been experienced hitherto 

 have been caused by the imperfections of the 

 processes in ordinary use, and it is confidently 

 expected that certain new methods which 

 avoid these defects will result in success. 



One of the most singular conditions attached 

 to the advertisement of Mr. Duncan is that 

 no "farm-yard manure shall be used in the cul- 

 ture of the beet-root supplied to him. The 

 over-luxuriance of growth which is produced 

 by the liberal use of manure is fatal to the 

 development of much sugar in the juice. 

 This corroborates what has long been familiar 

 to grape-growers and others who Tiesire to 

 produce fruit with a hjghly saccharine juice. 



