Breeds of Sheep best adapted to different Localities. 423 



Henry II., by statute, ordained that Spanish should not be mixed 

 with English wool ; and in 1186, the prohibition of Spanish wool 

 was more strictly enforced, and it was ordered, that all cloth of 

 British manufacture found made of Spanish wool, or in which 

 that material should be mixed, should be burned in the presence 

 of the Lord Mayor of London. Now it is well known to manu- 

 facturers that foreign wool may be mixed with those of British 

 growth, with a decided advantage to both; this the manufacturers 

 of that period appeared fully to understand. Such mixture not 

 appearing equally beneficial to the wool grower, the practice was 

 ordered to be prohibited in so far as a statutory enactment could 

 enforce the prohibition. 



The preceding details, coupled with the fact that when 

 Henry III. permitted the importation of fine cloths, the price 

 of home grown wool declined and stocks accumulated, show 

 clearly that fine wools which competed with those of this country 

 were grown on the Continent ; they also show that wool of suffi- 

 ciently fine quality for making broad cloths was grown in this 

 country. The disuse of such in making English broad cloth has 

 arisen from two causes, — first, a slight deterioration in the quality 

 of fine- British wool for fulling purposes, and secondly, the in- 

 creased attention paid in recent years to the growth of wool in 

 Spain, Germany, Australia, &c., where the efforts in improving 

 the fineness of the fleece has been seconded by natural causes, — 

 warmer and drier climate, a somewhat arid soil, and consequently 

 not so luxuriant pasture. Without a thorough knowledge of this 

 fact, persons unacquainted with the woollen manufacture may 

 be permitted to doubt that such a thing is possible as that, in the 

 course of two or three years, the fleeces of a flock of the same 

 breed, bred on the same land, should so far deteriorate as to be- 

 come unfit for fulling purposes, and this solely attributable to the 

 fact of a greater variety and luxuriance of food being given to 

 them : yet such statement is strictly true ; on this and several 

 other points most valuable evidence was given before the Com- 

 mittee of the House of Lords with reference to the wool duties in 

 the year 1828, from which we shall draw some copious extracts 

 illustrative of the changes which have taken place in the growth 

 of British wool and manufacture of British woollen fabrics. Mr. 

 Bull stated that 



"There are not many more sheep kept in Sussex than formerly, but the 

 quantity of wool has increased." 



Mr. Fison, — 



" The farmers now return their sheep, as they are accustomed to call it, 

 much quicker — that is, fatten and sell them at earlier periods. The 

 farmers formerly were not able to fatten and sell their sheep before they 

 were two or three years ol, b ut under the improved system of agriculture, 



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