1G2 
Wool and its Uses. 
prices wliicli the neiglibouring fanners of Liucolnsliire could make 
of their much heavier wool, they began to take means for increas- 
ing the weight of the fleece. The best of these wools probably- 
averaged 6 or 7 lbs. per fleece. After crossing them with 
Lincoln or Cotswold, they succeeded in getting up the weight 
to 9 lbs., and sometimes to 11 or 12 lbs. 
I have heard many a Norfolk farmer in those days of change 
boast of the goodness of his wool because it weighed " threes to 
the tod," or even " twos and threes." The only thing aimed at 
appeared to be weight, and there was very little thought given 
to the effect upon the character of the wool. The result has 
been that the Norfolk half-bred of to-day is a mongrel breed, 
which is beaten by almost every sort it competes with. There 
is good wool in the district, but it does not run regularly to the 
fine sorts as it used to do. 
These remarks do not apply alone to the wools of Norfolk 
and the Eastern Counties. The same mistake has been com- 
mitted in many other districts, and has been one of the causes 
of the downward tendency of prices. In 1861 the total import 
of wool of all kinds into this country was in round figures 150 
millions of pounds, or about an equal quantity to our own pro- 
duction. In 1886 our own production had fallen to 136 millions, 
while the imports had increased to 615 millions. 
More than 300 millions of this enormous increase is the 
produce of Australasia. During the whole of the period the 
colonial wool has been steadily improving. Everything that 
attention and business ability can accomplish is done by the 
colonials to meet the wants of the trade. Thousands of pounds 
have been spent in England for sheep for breeding purposes, 
and the greatest skill has been shown in selecting those most 
suitable. The result is that, with the exception of pure lustre 
wool, every kind of English wool can be matched and beaten in 
the London sales. And while all this has been taking place, 
our own wool in the classes which compete with colonial has 
been deteriorating. 
IV. Mixed Breeds. — Under this head I include all wools 
which have in them a cross of the Scotch Blackfaced, more or 
less recent, and in various degi-ees. These wools are to be 
found in the West and North llidings of Yorkshire, in Lanca- 
shire, Cumberland, Durham, and Nortliumberland, and through- 
out Scotland. A great variety of wool is grown in these dis- 
tricts. Some of the very finest half-bi*ed wool is groAvn in 
Scotland and Northumberland, known in the trade as North 
Wool, and possessing soft and silky qualities, which are perhaps 
unequalled, and almost unique. The Cheviot wool, too, is a 
special art icle, which does not seem to be capable of pi'oduction 
