SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 87 



21 cents per pound, the cloth would thus cost the purchaser 36| cents per 

 yard. 



Any jf the manufactories doing custcn-vvork will manufactui'e these 

 goods " at the halves," so that a yard requiring a pound of stock would 

 cost two pounds « f wool, or 42 cents. That as heavy as Welsh plains 

 would thus cost 45i cents, it being from 19i to 24^ cents per yard less than 

 you now pay. Yet here the manufacturer of custom-work admits the suffi 

 ciency of the profit, by asking no more. 



Blankets are of still coarser wool, having the appearance of Smyrna, oi 

 inferior South American. They are not "sheared,"* which diminishes 

 the waste. Neither do they need dyeing matter. But independent of 

 these considerations, calling cost of stock per pound, and the waste from 

 all causes the same, 6 lbs. of fleece-wool would make a blanket. To the 

 wool costing 21 cents a pound add 11 cents per pound (of the stock) for 

 manufacturing, and the actual cost of the blanket is SI 92. Have them 

 manufactured by the halves, and they would cost you 12 lbs. of wool each, 

 or S2 52. 



I have in the previous estimates, based my calculations on the market 

 frice of the lower quality of medium wools.t But there is another and a 

 most important view of the subject. It has already been shown that the 

 South can produce wool, to any desirable extent, at a sum not exceeding 

 8 cents per pound — and, in favored localities, at a much lower rate. By 

 the exchanging system (wool for cloth) you would get a yard of cloth 

 equaling the Welsh plain in stock, and superior in quality, for 2 lbs. 2|^ oz. 

 of wool, costing the producer just 17^ cents ! A blanket weighing 4i lbs. 

 would be obtained'for 12 lbs. of wool, costing 96 cents ! 



Does this sound a little like dreaming. Sir ] I ask you to carefully 

 examine the premises, and see if there is any escaping from these con 

 elusions ] 



Will the South continue to slumber on, thus throwing away the fruits 

 of her industry ? Do you tell me that her people know nothing about 

 manufacturing, and have no taste for it % The necessary knowledge is as 

 readily acquired by a Southern as a Noi'thern man ; and when that is oK 

 tained, and there is a prospect of profit ahead, the taste will not long be 

 wanting ! You have the capital : you have natural facilities to an un- 

 bounded extent both to propel the machinery and produce the staple. 

 What more do you want % What more can you ask ] A joint stock asso- 

 ciation of planters, at any suitable point, might cause a manufactory to be 

 erected worth say 825,000, under the direction of a skillful and experi- 

 enced machinist. This would turn off", say, 500 yards of cloth per diem. 

 If the machinery was in all respects good, and the water-powei sufficient 

 and unfailing, a competent and responsible Northern manufacturer could 

 be obtained (if desired), to take the establishment, furnishing hands, ^c 

 and work the wool furnished him into cloth of the kind before described — 

 containing about the same stock with Welsh plains, and fitting it for mar 



* After a sufficient number of fibres have been torn up from the threads by the teazles or can!? of the 

 " gii-mill " to form a sufficipntly thick nap on the surface, these fibres are cropped or "sheared " by a ma- 

 •bine for that purpose ; and in superfine cloths the process is several times repeated, each time cutiini; oS 

 an additional portion of fibre, which is called "flocks." A dishonest custom now prevails amona smnit 

 manufacturers of working these fiocks again into the body of the cloth to give them weight, denscness, ana 

 •ppnrent firmness. By this means the gigging and shearing process can he continued on thinnish cloths un 

 til a beautiful surface is obtained, without the additional thinness and lightness consequent thereon being 

 apparent to any hut an experienced eye. Sheep's grays and other coarse "cloths are gigged and sheared hut 

 ehghtly. In some maiiufact jries the former process is altogether omitted, and "the cloth is simply 

 •• brushed " prior to shearing, t^uch cloths are stronger, but db not look as well. 



t Say of the quality of common Poulh-Down and Native .snd Lons wools, with a sufficient dash of Me- 

 rino blood in the last to make ih'^m carding-wools, and to bring them to about the same fineness wilk 

 Jie firs I amed 



