It was observed that the fitness of the new merino race for the cultivated and populous districts of France was so marked that the exhibitors at Billancourt of animals of the small and fine-wool Negretti race displayed them with this published precaution: "In poor countries little advanced, where the pasturage is thin and the price of flesh will not cover the cost of production, the wool ought to be the principal and often the only product of sheep. We must then attempt to obtain as much wool as possible upon animals of small size and easy to nourish." It is for our agriculturists to determine whether the facts above given can be of practical application in this country.

ENGLISH COMBING WOOL.

The possession, by England, of the long-woolled races of sheep was the foundation of her manufacturing supremacy, the worsted manufacture supplied by this wool far surpassing that of clothing wool, and having opened the manufacture of cotton. More than half of the wool of England, whose annual product is about 250,000,000 pounds, is used for combing purposes, no wool of the merino race being produced. There is no more important question to American agriculture and manufactures, and no one more nearly related to the vital question of cheap sustenance, than the inquiry whether the long-woolled mutton sheep shall be produced abundantly in this country. The present consumption of this wool is about 6,000,000 pounds. The extension of the manufacture, which has been mechanically successful here, is limited by the supply of material; were this abundant the combed-wool industry would soon take its place by the clothing-wool industry, and double the products of the woollen manufacture. That there are no physical obstacles, such as condition of soil and climate, in this country to prevent the culture of the long wools of English blood, is demonstrated by the success in the culture of this wool in Upper Canada, from which province we obtain nearly all the long combing wool consumed here, our manufacture having been stimulated by the reciprocity treaty, which admitted these wools without duty. These wools are successfully and profitably grown in the neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and also in Kentucky, where a new race of long-woolled sheep appears to have been formed. The inducements for growing long-woolled sheep, especially in the neighborhood of the great cities, are, that profit is derived from three sources-the mutton, lambs, and wool-each coming to market at different seasons. The value of combing wools, as compared with the merino clothing wools, has greatly increased, and, in all probability, will continue to do so. The English combing fleeces were worth, in 1855, only 1s. 11⁄2d. In 1864, they were worth 2s. 4d. They had more than doubled in price while the clothing wools had just about held their price; the reason for this difference being that, while the demand for long lustre wool for the worsted manufacture has greatly increased, its culture has been confined to England, Holland, and parts of Germany, while the vast regions of

Australia, the Cape of Good Hope, and Buenos Ayres, have been opened to fine wool husbandry. American agriculturists differ as to the profit of growing the wool of English blood in the United States. On the one hand, the president of the New England Society of Agriculture asserts that "the mutton sheep of England are unsuited to our climate and soil, and are neither adapted to the extensive grazing lands where flocks are fed which are counted by the thousand, nor to the small farm which cannot furnish any luxuriance of food." On the other hand, the president of the National Wool Growers' Association, with more discrimination, asserts that the Cotswolds and Leicesters are well adapted to profitable breeding in the State of New York, for mutton and wool combined, in situations where the lands are rich, unsubject to drouth and adapted to root culture, and where good city mutton markets are easily accessible; he says, "they are great favorites with dairy farmers, and with grain growing farmers who wish to keep but few sheep." If the present high duties on combing wools shall stimulate their production, they should be continued. If they fail of this effect after a reasonable trial, the intelligence of the great body of the wool-growers will lead to the reduction of duties on these wools to a revenue standard. It is for the interest of the grower of the American merino wool, that there should be a supply of long wool to develop the worsted manufacture, that thereby a demand may arise for combing wools of merino blood, for the fabrication of the soft and fine stuff goods previously referred to, the command of both kinds of wool being necessary for a prosperous manufacture, in some fabrics one supplying the warp and the other the filling.1

CHEVIOT SHEEP.

A race of sheep producing wool adapted for combing and special clothing purposes has been altogether neglected in this country. This is the Cheviot sheep, so extensively bred in Scotland in place of the old Highland breed, and which supplies the chief revenue of the vast estates of the noble families of Breadalbane, Argyle, Athol, Sutherland, and Buccleuch.

The introduction of these sheep would lead to the supply of a most valuable and much needed material for our manufacturers. The wool is sufficiently long to be combed and may be all converted into worsted. It is finer than the Cotswold, and can be advantageously mixed with English combing wool. Our worsted manufacturers, familiar with the working of this wool in Scotland, consider its acquisition for combing purposes, simply, as very desirable. It is, however, particularly desirable to supply an important deficiency of material for certain card wool fabrics. It is this wool, or a mixture of it, which gives their peculiar character to the Scotch tweeds and the Scotch cassimeres and coarser shawls. It is also extensively used at Rochdale for blankets, for which

1 See letter of Mr. Walworth on "Combing Wools," in Appendix, not accessible when this report was submitted.

purpose it is specially fitted by being less liable to felt than the merino wools. We have invariably failed, in this country, in attempts to make goods corresponding to the Scotch cassimeres, so much in request.' The basis of these fabrics is the Cheviot wool, to which finer wools are added to give variety to the texture; their peculiar style resulting, according to the statements of Mr. Bowes, from the mixture of the coarse and long with short and fine fibre. These sheep resemble the Leicesters in general appearance, being without horns and having white faces and legs, though they are much inferior in size. They have an advantage over the Leicesters in their superior hardiness, as they thrive with conditions of keep and exposure under which the former would perish. Protected by their close fleece, which prevents the penetration of rain and snow, they bear with comparative impunity the storms of the Scottish hills and thrive on their pastures. Their limbs are of a length to fit them for travelling, and enable them to pass over bogs and snows, through which a shorter legged animal could not penetrate. In Scotland they have no other food, except when it is proposed to fatten them, than the natural grass produ eed on their own hills. The hardiness of the animals of this race, and the facility with which, unlike the Leicesters, they are nourished and tended in large flocks, would seem to fit them admirably for the rough husbandry of California, New Mexico, and the mountains of North Carolina. In the present state of our manufactures it is certain there would be an extensive demand for their wool.

Although it may seem presumptuous in a manufacturer to attempt to throw light upon the question of sheep husbandry, the object is more to disclose our necessities than to pronounce remedies. It is apparent that this most vital of all agricultural problems is very far from having been resolved in this country. England has resolved the question for her soil and climate, and has made the mutton sheep culture the pivot upon which her agriculture revolves, and the means of making her fields more productive in wheat than even the prairies of the west. In this country new elements enter into the consideration of this question; among them is the means of making our peculiar possession of Indian corn most available in the production of wool and mutton, and the relations of sheep husbandry to the culture of the beet for sugar, an industry destined to have a great extension at the west. Profit to the farmer and a supply of raw material to the manufacturer are not alone to be considered. With the increasing dearness of animal food the question of cheaper sustenance is coming to be as vital here as in Europe. The greater development of sheep husbandry, with a view to the supply of mutton as well as wool, will be the most efficient and quickest means of diminishing the cost of all animal food, as well as of increasing the supply of cereals by restoring our degenerating soil to remunerating cultivation. Happily the interests of sheep husbandry are receiving, in this country,

'Since the above was written, fabrics called Cheviots, similar to the Scotch goods, have been successfully made here.

more earnest and intelligent attention than ever before. There is no movement in American agriculture more encouraging than the vitality of the recent national, State, and county associations of those engaged in this branch of agriculture, and the vigor and talent with which the departments of sheep husbandry are conducted in the leading agricultural papers.

1

Recurring to the Exposition, the evidences of the vast scale upon which sheep husbandry is carried on in Russia, appearing in the notices of its exhibitors at Paris, could not fail to attract attention. Mr. Tilibert speaks thus of his flock: "It consists of 70,000 merino sheep. In 1864 it numbered 50,000 head, which gave 12,860 poods of wool. Mr. Michel Bernstein, of Odessa, describes his production as follows: "The flock of Falz Feim consists of 400,000 animals. The last shearing produced 30,000 poods, washed, and sold for 870,000 roubles, or 2,974,500 francs."

Passing over the coarse wools of the Highland breed, the carpet wools of Russia and South America, the alpacas of Peru, and the Angora of Turkey, all of which, with the exception, perhaps, of the latter, are of but little interest to the American wool producer, as they do not compete with any wools grown in this country, or which are likely to be grown, because other wool can be produced with greater profit, as it is not usual to raise rye on land which will raise an equal amount of wheat, the undersigned would observe that the interest displayed by all the continental governments of Europe in the introduction of valuable breeds of sheep is worthy of imitation by our own government. If the introduction, at the government expense, of valuable foreign breeds of sheep, to be confided to the Department of Agriculture, might not be deemed expedient, there is certainly every reason for favoring the importation of desirable breeds of sheep and other animals by annulling the duties on such importations.

Aood is equal to 16.80 kilo rrams; .45341 of a kilogram is equal to one pound avoirduo i

2 See special paper upon the "Angora Goat," in the Appendix.

SECTION II.

WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES.

COMPARISON OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN MANUFACTURES.

COMPARISON OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN MANUFACTURES-ANTIQUITY OF FABRICATION IN EUROPE-CONSUMPTION OF THE WOrld-RelatIVE COST OF PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE-FRENCH WOOLLEN FABRICS AT THE EXPOSITON-CULTURE OF TASTE IN FRANCE-PROGRESS OF THE ART OF DYEING IN FRANCE-CHARACTERISTIC CENTRES IN FRANCE-BELGIUM, GERMANY AND AUSTRIA-GREAT BRITAIN-DUTIES OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS.

The American observer, astonished at the marvellous display of fabrics of woollen of such infinite variety and beauty at the Exposition, nearly all the products of European looms, might have been mortified at the meagre display from his own country, if he had not reflected that the woollen manufacture has hardly existed in this country more than half a century, and that even during its short existence it has been subject to a system of legislation which has been constant only in its instability. In Europe the woollen manufacture was the first art which revived after the dark ages. As early as 1395, the stuffs of Rheims sent to Bajazet II, for the ransom of French captives were regarded as the richest and most curious gift which France could offer. Both in France and England this industry received every favor which the state could render, and in the latter country its prosperity is the result of a persistent national care from the time of Edward III, unexampled in the history of industry. It could not be expected that the products of our brief experience should bear any comparison with the results of the traditions and inherited experience of centuries. The comparison of our fabrics as they were known to exist here, rather than as they were exhibited-for the display of our goods was very far from being an adequate representation of the real condition of our industry-was far from discouraging, while the recent progress in the most advanced nations gave the best assurance that we also might attain success in the boundless field upon whose borders we had entered.

The emotion most vividly excited by a general survey of the department under consideration was admiration of the wonderful qualities of the fibre, which is capable of producing objects and fabrics infinitely surpassing in variety of appearance as well as of application those produced from any other material, thus showing itself to be, of all fibrous materials, that of the first necessity to man. This fibre, we observe, is made more perfect than any other by the chemical elaborations of an animal of high organization, thus surpassing silk which is derived from an animal of a lower organic structure. Its specific gravity being the least