No. 8. 



Woo! and Sheep Husbandry. 



245 



amounted to 12,391,035 lbs., and in 1842, 

 to 10,910,382 lbs. The Hon. William Slade, 

 late a member of Congress, from Vermont, 

 has ascertained that for the first half of the 

 fiscal year of 1843, during which time the 

 late tariff" has been in operation, it amounted 

 to only 1,037,530 lbs., being a falling off" on 

 the average imports of the last eight years, 

 of 77 per cent., and as contrasted with 1841, 

 1842, of more than 82 per cent. Mr. Slade 

 does not attribute this reduction solely to 

 the operation of the tariff", though that was 

 mainly instrumental — particularly the coarse 

 wool provision. The tariff" of 1832, admit- 

 ted wool of the value of eight cents and 

 under, free of duty. It is curious that 

 nearly all the wool imported was of this de- 

 scription. Taking the period above alluded 

 to, of ei^ht year? — from 1835 to 1842, and 

 about 71,000,000 out of the 75,000,000 lbs. 

 imported, was the minimum priced wool, 

 though by no means always coarse. The 

 condition and depressed state of the for- 

 eign market, tlie bad manner in which the 

 wool was prepared and put up, reduced the 

 price whence imported, to eight cents, and 

 then it came free of duty, and tliis wool it 

 was that came in competition with our own, 

 and kept it down. Under the late tariff", 

 wool must now at the place whence ini- 

 ported, be of the value of seven cents or 

 under, and also be coarse, before it can come 

 in under the small duty of five per cent. — 

 none now comes in free — but if the wool is 

 not coarse, though below the value of seven 

 cents, it has to pay a duty of three cents a 

 pound, and thirty per cent., advalorem, mak- 

 ing a duty of some five or six cents a pound 

 on all such wool. 



There is another very important point in 

 reference to this foreign wool, to be borne 

 in mind. It is said to lose as high as some 

 seventy-five per cent, in cleansing, as op- 

 posed to some thirty-three per cent, average 

 loss on American wool. Thus, suppose one 

 dollar buys, at 12|- cents per lb. 8 lbs. for- 

 eign wool, which including freight, insu- 

 rance, commissions and profits, we will sup- 

 pose to be its cost to the manufacturer — that 

 one dollar buys, at 33 cents a lb. 3 lbs. Ame- 

 rican coarse wool ; when cleansed ready for 

 carding, there will be an equal quantity, 

 2 lbs. of each — or for the wool clear of the 

 dirt, the cost is 50 cents per lb. in either 

 case. If this is so, 33 cents, it would seem, 

 is likely to be the minimum price of our 

 coarse wool, unless reduced by home compe- 

 tition. Judging from the great falling off" in 

 the importations immediately after the late 

 tariff" went into operation, and as t'lie small 

 duty of five per cent, on the minimum priced 

 wool is unequal to accout for it, it is fair to 



suppose that this coarse wool provision, has 

 shut out millions of pounds that otherwise 

 would have been brought into competition 

 with our own common wool. The farmers 

 and wool growers are exceedingly interested 

 that this provision of the tariff law should 

 be thoroughly, honestly, and efficiently exe- 

 cuted. They have a right to expect good 

 faith and fidelity on the part of the manu- 

 facturers, independent of the action of the 

 custom house. They have stood shoulder 

 to shoulder with them. They have sought 

 the establishment and success of the manu- 

 facturing interest, and their votes and influ- 

 ence have mainly insured it. They have 

 in doing so, made few stipulations for them- 

 selves, but in this small boon that has been 

 extended to them, they trust the word of 

 promise will be kept. 



A respectable eastern paper, the Boston 

 Courier, of a late date, estimates there is in 

 operation from 25 to 50 per cent, more ma- 

 chinery than there was at the beginning of 

 1843. It is supposed there was on hand at 

 the beginning of 1843, at least half a year's 

 clip of old wool, and the clip of '43 was un- 

 usually large. It is also stated that the 

 quantity of pulled wool had accumulated at 

 the beginning of the last year to a great and 

 unusual extent, owing to the falling off in 

 the manufacture of flannels and other fab- 

 rics, in which it is principally used. The 

 stock of every description is now said to be 

 nearly consumed, except a moderate but fair 

 supply, mostly in the hands of the manufac- 

 turers, and within the last sixty days wool 

 has advanced considerably. It is now worth 

 from 33 to .55 cents. It would thus appear 

 that while the quantity of American wool 

 likely to be in market during 1844, must be 

 nearly one half less than it was in. '43, there 

 is machinery in operation to consume from 

 25 to 50 per cent, more than was consumed 

 during that year, or sufficient to consume 

 almost twice the the clip of 1844. There' 

 will hence be a demand for wool, and this 

 demand will go on increasing from year to 

 year, and the question is who shall supply 

 it — whether our own farmers and wool grow- 

 ers, our own lands and sheep, or whether 

 failing to supply our own consumption, with 

 all our territory and advantages of soil and 

 climate, we must import our wool from for- 

 eign countries. That this demand and con- 

 sumption are likely to continue to increase, 

 appears from a note appended to a very able 

 address lately delivered before the American 

 Institute, by the Hon. James Talmadge — 

 being- an account of British woollen manufac- 

 tures, exported in 1841, made to Parliament 

 — that Great Britain exported in that year, 

 of woollens to the amount of £5,748,673. 



