Wool and its Uses. 
IGl 
goes, the most important position in the wool-market.' It is the 
largest item in the English clip. It is an ever-increasing 
quantity in the colonial clip, and probably of the forty million of 
sheep in America the major portion are half-breds. 
Let me here clear away an element of misconception. The 
term " cross-bred " is used in the London catalogues, when 
describing colonial wool, to signify the produce of the cross 
between the Merino and the Leicester. This sometimes puzzles 
the North-country farmer. In the English wool-trade the word 
cross-bred means the cross between a good breed and a bad one ; 
as, for instance, between the Leicester and the Scotch Black- 
faced, in its various degi'ees. I use the name "half-bred " through- 
out in the same sense as it is generally used in Yorkshire, to 
signify a cross between a coarse and a fine-woolled sheep — in 
English wool the cross between the Leicester (using the name 
broadly) and the Down, in colonial wool the cross between the 
Leicester and Merino. 
In England, then, the original half-bred is a cross between 
the Leicester and the Down. But in some districts the half-bred 
has developed into a distinct breed, which only requires an 
occasional importation of the original blood to suit the exigencies 
of different localities. This is notably the case in Norfolk, and 
the Eastern Counties generally, and also in Shropshire and 
Staffordshire. 
What is required in this class is a moderate length of staple, 
softness of handle, and the largest amount of the fineness of its 
Down progenitor that can be obtained. As there is the keenest 
competition in this class, it follows that the greatest amount of 
knowledge on the part of the British farmer is necessary to 
enable him to hold his own in the contest. 
A generation ago, some of our half-bred wools were celebrated, 
and justly so, for their fineness and softness, and they were very 
much sought after for certain classes of goods. It is a singular 
coincidence that these wools began to deteriorate in quality and 
style just at the time that colonial cross-breds were introduced, 
and for years it appeared as if the growers of half-bred wool in 
England were playing into the hands of the colonists, whose 
production steadily increased in quantity and improved in quality, 
until the home wools were gradually pushed out of certain trades. 
There are several districts to which these remarks would 
apply, but perhaps the case of the Norfolk half-bred wool will 
illustrate my meaning best. Twenty-five years ago these wools 
were noted for their fineness and softness, and were boug-ht in 
large quantities by makers of lastings and similar goods. About 
this time the growers seem to have become dissatisfied with the 
weight of their fleeces, and carried away, no doubt, by the high 
VOL. XXIV. — S. S, ' M 
