THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



739 



000 lbs., a decline of 4,000,000 in the im- 

 port is a serious matter, being no less than 

 four per cent, of the supply, and the home 

 supply does not increase as the high pri- 

 ces would naturally lead to expect. The 

 low prices which have ruled in the past 

 year will, on the other hand, discourage 

 the receipt of foreign wool, although a sale 

 of nearly 1,000,000 lbs. Chinese wool, held 

 in New York, last week brought very good 

 prices, higher than the quality (which was 

 low) would warrant for the present state 

 of the market for carpets. The stoppage 

 of many of the large J factories has greatly 

 reduced the consumption of wool in the 

 past year; probably 30,000,000 lbs. less 

 has been taken by the factories, but cer- 

 tain qualities of wool are yet very scarce. 

 The production of delaines has been large 

 by the three great companies engaged in 

 that description of goods, and their wares 

 were never more attractive. They have 

 produced nearly as follows for the year : 



Yards. 



Manchester— Delaines, - 7,000,000 



Pacific " - 7,200,000 



Hamilton " - 6,900,000 



Total three companies, - 21,100,000 



This is equal to 2,000,000 dresses for 

 ladies, certainly not a very large supply, 

 since there were in the country in 1850, 

 9,526,666 females, which would give one 

 delaine dress among four, and if we de- 

 duct females under five years, one dress 

 among three in a year, exclusive of the 

 impoited delaines, which hold their ground 

 with much difficulty against the improved 

 production of the three mills named. The 

 rise in wool and the recovery of the mar- 

 kets abroad for these styles of dress goods 

 makes the American markets far less im- 

 portant this year to the English and French 

 producers. The prospect here, therefore, 

 is certainly favorable to the expectation of 

 a rise in the goods equal to the improved 

 value of the raw material. The sale of 

 coarse wools alluded to above went at an 

 advance of some 2a3c. per lb., being in 

 demand for carpets and such descriptions 

 of goods as the fine American wools are 

 hardly adopted to. The quantity of car- 

 peting imported into the country seems to 

 be very small, as compared with the wants 

 of the country. Thus in 1857 the whole 

 quantity of all descriptions — Wilton, Sax- 

 ony, Brussels, Ingrain, &c. — was 1,714,- 



393 yards. In the city of New York 

 alone, according to the census of 1855, the 

 number of dwellings is as follows : 



No. Cost, 



Stone, - - 1,617 $32,267,819 



Brick, - - 29,977 211,531,806 



Frame, - - 10,395 28,900,745 



Other, - 333 781,920 



Total, - - 42,668 $273,481,811 



If we take stone and brick houses only 

 the number is 31,594, which would aver- 

 age an area on one floor only of 20x50 

 feet, to carpet which would require in this 

 city alone 4,271,300 yards of cloth. The 

 stairs, hall, basement, and upper rooms, 

 are, however, always carpeted, as are most 

 of the frame houses. The quantity really 

 required is not under 12,000,000 yards for 

 the city of New York. In the supposition 

 that the carpets last seven years, the an- 

 nual demand is 1,750,000 yards, or the 

 quantity of carpets imported last year, to 

 supply the city of New York alone. All 

 the carpet demand for the interior of this 

 State, and of all the other States and cities, 

 therefore falls upon the home production. 

 The carpets are, however, imported in the^ 

 following proportion : 



Yards. Price. 



Into Boston, 276,849 $238,136. 



Portland, 6,215 4,989 « 



New York, 1,072,307 1,242,338- 



Philadelphia, 239,172 202,316. 



Baltimore, 25,607 m 23,285 



Charleston, 14,806 m 12,755. 



Mobile, 130 191 



New Orleans, 37,690 38,187 



San Francisco, 41,296 21,990 • 



1,714,093 $1,784,196- 



The imports at New York averaged a. 

 cost of about $1.20 per yard. At Boston, 

 under 90c, and at the other ports about 

 the same low prices, except an importation, 

 which seems to have been a special one, 

 at Mobile, at $1.50 per yard. The figures 

 here presented show how small is the im- 

 port trade in carpets as compared with the 

 wants of the country, and reciprocally how 

 large is the interest of carpet makers, who 

 heretofore have suffered under a tax upon 

 the wools they use, while American agri- 

 culture supplies them with none of the 

 necessary quality. For the coarse wool's 

 necessary for the making of carpets, the 

 manufacturers are dependent upon the im- 



