APPEND IX, No. IV. 



gloves, convenient and ornamental, for dlftinguifiied per- 

 fons, and ladies of high rank." Signior Ubaldini, during 

 his refidence in Antwerp, probably had an opportu- 

 nity of feeing fome of thefe kinds of goods brought to 

 market ; and the defcription applies fo -well to that kind 

 of delicate wool ftill found in fome parts of Shetland, as 

 gives reafon to believe he had been very well informed as 

 to thefe particulars. 



Thefe fine-wooUed iheep, however, though they cer- 

 tainly did exill in Scotland at the time Ubaldini wrote 

 his book, and long afterwards, have now, like the fme- 

 woolled fheep in England, difappeared on the main land, 

 though they poffibly may be recovered fi'om fome remote 

 and negle£led corner among the diftant ifles. But when 

 they Ihall be found, it will be difficxdt to increafe the 

 breed : For though, in confcquence of the prohibition to 

 export wool from Britain, fine wool has become here fo 

 fcarce, as to oblige us to have recourfe to Spain for a fup- 

 ply, and by confequence has raifed the price of fine wool 

 here much higher than it would have been, and thus it 

 may be thought holds out a ftrong temptation to the wool 

 grower in Britain, to try to rear fine wool once more ; 

 yet fo long as the market continues limited, as it muft 

 be while the prefent laws fubfill, and the reflraints thefe 

 laws produce continue to hamper the wool grower, no vi- 

 gorous effort to regain that lofl obje6l of commerce, can be 

 expecled to be made ; and if it were made, there are dif- 

 ficulties occur in this attempt, which, unlefs in particular 

 circumllances, muil for ever render fuch attempts abor- 

 tive. Fortunately for Britain, fome parts of Scotland pof- 

 fefs fuch peculiar advantages in this refpeft, as no other 

 rival nation can boafl of : fo that there, and there ojily^ 

 an effort to improve the breed of fine-woolled Iheep can 

 be attended with a reafonable profpeft of fuccefs. 



Experiments 



