The Shepherds' Guide. 2S 



years ending in 1804, Great Britain imported 

 18,468,713 lbs. of Spanish wool : more than six 

 millions per annum. So that after we have sup- 

 plied our manufacturers, we shall not want a 

 market for our surplus for many years to come. 

 To the second inquiry we may answer in the 

 words of Lord Somerville, that cloths made of 

 fine wool are more beautiful, lighter, warmer and 

 stronger than such as are made of coarse wool ; 

 and that there is not a single article of manufac- 

 ture (not excepting carpets) in which coarse wool 

 is nov/ used, which would not be doubly valuable 

 if made of that which is fine. With any unpre- 

 judiced man, these statements must put the ques- 

 tion of profit, as it respects both the present time 

 and the future, at rest. For although the present 

 glut of Spanish wool in this country and in 

 Great Britain, as well as the dispersion of the 

 Spanish flocks over all the world may seem to 

 contradict these statements ; still that very dis- 

 persion, as well as the ruinous devastations of the 

 war, have so greatly diminished the numbers of 

 Spanish sheep, on the whole, that as soon as the 

 present supply of fine wool is expended, the arti- 

 cle must again rise in its price : and Great Britain 

 will probably look for a great length of time to 

 this country for a supply of fine wool. For food, 

 not articles of manufacture, is the great object of 

 her agriculturalists j and the taste of the whole na- 



C 



