SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. I6j 



supremacy, lost for nearly twenty years, and again became tlie p.)pulai 

 favorite. It was generally adopted by those who were commencinf^ flocks 

 in the new Western States, and gives its type to the sheep of those re- 

 gions. 



It will be seen from the preceding facts that the supply of fine. wool* 

 has proportiunably decreased, and that of medium and coarse increased. 

 This has driven the manufacturers to make a juster discrimination in 

 prices. They now realize that their own short-sighted economy has been 

 all but fatal to fine wool-growing in the United States. And they cannot 

 but feel that in destroying this interest, they destroy themselves. Our 

 manufacturers are not so miserably blind as to dream of drawing their raw 

 material from foreign countries — of paying an import duty of 30 per cent, 

 and then competing with the English manufacturer who pays an import duty 

 not exceeding two pence per pound ! It is doubtful, in my mind, whether 

 the home supply will not fall considerably short of the home demand for 

 fine \soo\ for this year !] The point has been already reached where but 

 a little more discouragement, or a little longer continued discouragement, 

 *vould have banished these wools from the country ! So far, the manufac- 

 tories have not felt this evil, for they have not been compelled to import. 

 Neither pampered nor persecuted by the Tariff of 1846— called for by the 

 consumption of the country — with solid capital and greater experience 

 and skill at their command — they are rapidly increasing, and rising on a 

 solider basis than ever before. So, to sustain our manufacturing interest, 

 (that entraged in the manufacture of fine cloths,) it is absolutely necessary 

 that the diminution oi fine wools, be not only immediately arrested, but 

 that the growth of them be immediately and largely increased. These 

 facts now first beginning to be clearly appreciated by the manufacturer — 

 will deter him from resorting to his former suicidal policy. Instances have 

 recently come to my knowledge of manufacturers offering to contract 

 with fine-wool growers for their entire clips, for a term of years, at an ad- 

 vance on present prices — prices, be it remembered, higher than they have 

 been except for two years (1839 and 1844) since the overthrow of 1837. 

 Should the manufacturer, however, again forget his own interest, the fine- 

 wool grower has it in his power to teach it to him most effectually. In- 

 stead of being disc<niraged and driven from the business, he has but to 

 withhold his v/ools for a season — say for a few months, to compel the for- 

 mer to import wools at a ruinous cost — stop his machinery, or pay fair 

 prices at home ! I believe in no combinations to control prices. Some- 

 thing far better than vague report, however, says that several of the lavgc 

 manufactming establishments of New-England employed the same agents, 

 last season, to buy much, if not all of their wools — and that these wools 

 were subsequently divided by bidding or otherwise, among the parties to 

 the transaction ! Is this denied ? I think it will not be denied. If 

 this was so, what was it but a combination to control prices If But whether 



* To make myself clearly understood, I will, in the remr.rks which follow, classify wools as follows : »«• 

 p'.rjine, the choicest quality of wool urown in the United States, and never prown liere excepting in com. 

 paratively small quantities; Jine. good ordinary Saxon : ^ood medivm, the highest quality of wool usuaii% 

 known in the market as Merino; medium, ordinary Merino ; ordinary, crade Merino and perhaps selected 

 South-Down fleeces ; coarse, the English long wools. &c. This e«bdivision is not minute enough, by nnjr 

 means, to express fully the number of well-defined clashes which exist in wool. A farther multiplication 

 rif ihenc here, however, I have thouiiht would only tend to confusion. 



1 The po-ition has been all alonj t^ken that the general supply was under the demand, but the deficit 

 hitherto has been principally in medium and coar-e wools. See Table 9, Letter IX 



X And before leaving this point, I will ask another question : Why were most of the wools of New-York 

 and New-England untouched and unlooked at by the agents of the manufacturers this /ear, contrai-y to 

 all preceding customs for two or three months subsequently to shearing? These same agents "i.icked in 

 droves to the Western States and bought up their entire clip immediately after shearing, while 'epcrta 

 were constantly coming back that this manufactory and that had purchased its entire supply for a y^ar, or 

 perhaps two years ? Was this because the Eastern growers demanded exorbitant prices ? Wts it because 

 aaytbing like an approach to a supply of fine wools could be found in the West f Or waa it ttd result of • 



X 



