146 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH, 



Mr. Charles Bull, wool agent, Lewes. — " Formerly it [South-Down wool] was used ftu 

 clothiiiir piir[)oseci ; now it is impossible to sell it for that manufacture ; . . . it is used fbt 

 Diiizes and Hciunels in a very large way." 



Mr. AViLLiAM CuNMNGTON, wool-staplcr, Wiltshire. — " The public will not wear the 

 Sonth-Down cloths, thty are so very coarse." 



.Mr. .Iamks Fiso.v, wool dealer, Thettbrd. — "There has been deterioration in the (jutlity 

 of (South-Down) wool ; the general weight of the fleece 20 years ago was 2 pounds to 2^, 

 and it is now^ 3 poiuids to 3^, our wool used to be made into cloths, and returned into Nor- 

 folk, and Ui^fd by myself and the agriculturists. We do not get the same cloth now ; neither 

 nay .self nor the farmer would wear it, because of the deterioration of quality." 



Mr. James Hubbard, wool agent, Leeds. — South-Down wool is not "now employed for 

 the purpose of making cloth ; it has been Ibrced down two or three steps in the scale of wtiol, 



and is now used for Hannels and baize The wool gets more frothy and open, and in 



manufacturing it does not felt and improve so well ; it works more flannely." .... 



Mr. .John Brooke, manufacturer, Howley. — " Manufacture principally blue cloths from 7b. 

 t2 24s. and 25s. per yard, and also naiTow cloths. .... Had the Duke of Nort(:)lk'8 wool, Mr. 

 BUman, junior's, clip from 1817 and 1822, and Mr. Ellman, senior's, from 1817 to 1821. ... 

 Kept to English wool longer than any hou.se in the neighborhood Ceased to manufac- 

 ture it entirely in 1823 or 1824, .... found our neighbors were sending out better cloths 

 than we were, not only at the same price, but better manufactured cloths, and we lost our cus- 

 tomers." 



Mr. BF;NJAMfN Gott, merchan>^ ttnd manufacturer, Leeds.':—" I formerly used l.'iO packs 

 of English wool weekly ; the disuse of English wool was gradual, commencing about tno 

 year 1819, continuing to 1823 and 1824, about which time I began to manufactuie exclu- 

 sively from foreign wool. The disuse of English wool ai-ose from the quality and the ad- 

 vantage of using foreign wool conij)ared with our own. I could not now make an article 

 which would be merchantable at all for the foreign market, (that remark applies equally to 

 the home trade,) in certain descriptions of cloth, excej)t of foreign wool." . . . These wools 

 (the domestic and foreign,) " have different pioperties." 



Mr. Wir.LiAM liiKLAND, Blackwell Hall factor, London. — " We have been using English 

 wool for second and livery cloths, but recently they have been so very much lowered iu 

 quality we have not been able to make use of them at all, and have been obliged to make 

 use ot low German and low Spanish wools for that purpose." 



Mr. J. SuTCLiFFE, wool-stapler, Huddersfield. — " South-Down wool was formerly ap- 

 plied for making clotli for home consumption regularly, for the clothing of servants, &c. It 

 was also used for army clothing. It is now no longer used for those purposes. It makes a 

 fuTzy, soft, hairy piece ; it lias not that fastness in it that foreign wool has." 



Many other individuals testify to the same effect, and the extremely low 

 character of South-Down wool for carding purposes may be regarded as 

 definitely settled. But as it has deteriorated it has increased in length of 

 staple in England, and to such an extent that improved machinery enables 

 it to be used as a combing wool — for the manufacture of worsteds. Where 

 this has taken place it is quite as profitable, in England, as when it was 

 finer and shorter. In the United States, where the deinand for coml>ing- 

 wool is so small that it is easily met by a better article, perhaps thi 

 would not be the case. And it may be problematical whether the proper 

 combing length will be easily reached, or at least maintained in this coun- 

 try, in the absence of that high feeding system which has undoubtedly 

 given the wool its increased length in England.* 



The average weight of fleece in the hill-fed sheep is 3 lbs. ; on rich 

 lowlands a little more. Mr. John Ellman, Jr., testified before the Com- 

 mittee of the House of Lords that he was then " keeping his eheep better 

 than formerly — fattening them, which rendered the fleece heavier — that 

 they then averaged aboat 3 lbs. of wool."t " But the Down is cultivated 

 more particularly for its mutton, which for quality takes precedence of all 

 jllier" (fVom sheep of good size) "in the English markets. Its early maturity 

 «nd extreme aptitude to lay on flesh, render it peculiarly valuable for thia 

 purpose. The Down is turned off at two years old, and its weight at that 

 age is, in England, from 80 to 100 lbs. High fed wethers have reached 



* Nearly or quite every individuRl who testifies to the deterioration and increased length of thf Soatb 

 l>own wool ')elV)ie the Lord's Committee, assign this as the cause of the change. 

 Bischofl; 'o!. ii., p. 137 



