Practical Agriculture. 487 = 221 
medium or inferior quality. The prices current on the first 
rday in January 1877 from the latest market sales were — 
new Cheddar, 60s. to 94s. per cwt. ; fine new Cheshire, 
to 90s. per cwt. ; fine new Wiltshire, 74s. to 82s. per cwt. 
ere are no data available for computing the total pro- Butter, 
ion of butter. But it is considered by some authorities that 
B average yearly produce per cow, when well kept, in milk 
d butter, and the value of her calf, reaches from to 18Z. 
,1k is commonly retailed in towns at Is. 4fZ. per gallon, which 
nearly double the price obtained by the country dairyman 
lO supplies the town milk-vendors wholesale. The price of 
ih butter commonly varies from Is. to Is. {)d. per pound ; and 
prices of Irish butter in January 1877 were from 120s. to 
Is. per cwt., according to quality. 
JVool. — What is the annual production of wool in England Earl Cathcai t 
id in the United Kingdom ? Statisticians on the subject 
ieve that, within the last twenty years, a considerable change 
taken place in the average weights of fleeces, partly owing 
improved breeding, in all counties suitable for the heavier 
ises of sheep, and partly from an extension of crossing with 
T breeds. And it is considered that the average varies from 
to year as much as from a quarter to half a pound per 
according to season. Earl Cathcart, in his Paper on 
col in Relation to Science with Practice," in the Society's 
lurnal ' for 1875, gave an estimate of home-grown wool, 
king the weights of fleece from jNIessrs. J. and J. Hubbard 
Bradford, and applying them to the average numbers of sheep 
turned for each county in 1867, 1868, and 1869. 
I have now calculated and give in tabular form the figures for 
e average number of sheep in 1875 and 1876. 
From unwashed wool a deduction of one-third is made, to 
rive at the weight of clean wool ; and the average weights of 
ece allow for sheep being slaughtered at all times of the year — 
that, on an average, their fleeces do not attain a full or mature 
eight. 
According to this estimate, the 13,758,000 sheep in England Homeproduc- 
hd Wales, one-year old and upwards, produce on an average ^'o'l °t ^^'^o'- 
iS,976,00O lbs. of wool, the average weight of fleece being 
)out 5| lbs. ; and the 18,448,000 sheep in Great Britain pro- 
ice 22,277,000 lbs. of wool, with a weight of fleece averaging 
)out 5^ lbs. While the 4,690,000 sheep of Scotland yield 
^eces averaging 4| lbs., the 3,000,000 sheep of Ireland are 
)nsidered to yield fleeces averaging 6 lbs. : and the totals 
r the United Kingdom are 21,492,000 sheep, one-year old and 
pwards, yielding 119,473,000 lbs. of wool, averaging about 
Ubs. per fleece. At a ten years' average price of English wool, 
