Wool and its Usei. 
169 
wool. I will leave this subject to the readers of this Journal 
with the question : Who pays the Doncaster jobbers' j^rofit ? 
To the inquiry as to what can be done to enable our farmers 
to get more for their wool, or even something like old-time 
prices, I can only reply that, so far as I can see, there is at 
present very little hope of any substantial rise in prices. 
Fashion is fickle, and might probably decree some day that we 
had worn soft stuffs long enough, and that our womankind must 
clothe themselves in the hard, solid, and good wearing materials 
made from wools of native growth. But so long as we are con- 
tent to take our fashions from Paris, this is not likely to take 
place. Soft goods have always been the peculiar pride of the 
French manufacturer, and France is consequently deeply inte- 
rested in keeping up this fashion. 
If we were, however, to have a change of fashion in the 
direction of harder materials, it must not be forgotten that 
there is a large quantity of wool from the colonies of the cross- 
bred type, which nearly approaches many English wools in 
solidity, and that we should not therefore have the trade in 
our own hands as we formerly had. 
An import of more than six hundred millions of pounds 
of wool is a factor which effectively removes any of the exclu- 
sive conditions which formerly helped to keep up the price of 
English wool. For though it must be admitted that we do not 
retain quite half of it for the use of our mills, yet we have to 
compete with the other half in the shape of the manufactured 
goods of France and Germany in all the markets of the world. 
Thus the question is not how English wool can be restored 
to its old position, for that is impossible, but how it is to hold 
its own in the competition. I can only say in answer, let the 
wool which is known to suit a district be grown there in all its 
ancient purity. 
Let the Lincolnshire farmer still grow lustre wool as pure 
and as fine as he can, as there is a place for his commodity, 
even if it is only a subsidiary one ; and with the continual 
increase of population this subsidiary purpose will assume 
greater relative importance. 
Let the Southdown gi'ower keep in his mind what his wool 
is best fitted for, and not make vain attempts to fit it for he 
knows not what. 
Let farmers generally take care that their wool is got up for 
market better than it often is. It may be thought by some a 
clever thing to sell a quantity of gTease and dirt at the price of 
wool, but the result must be bad for the community in the com- 
petition with the best got-up wool in the world. And in this con- 
nection I should like to be allowed to make a quotation from a 
