render themselves useful by spreading in those countries the knowledge and experience acquired in our "fatherland."

However, being nothing but mortal men, they cannot conquer impediments made by nature, and which can be overcome only by time and united efforts. For the present, I think, America will find it to be a sufficient task to make herself independent of Europe with respect to part of her demand of the raw material; but to think of soon producing so much wool, as to be able to export it, would be an idea altogether too bold to excite any thing but a smile of the Germans.

In speaking of the wool production of North America we notice for the present only the quantity, caring less for the quality. Even the common sheep thrives there in particularly favorable years, upon pastures and under circumstances as above described; while in less favorable years the number of those that perish, is enormous. No wonder, then, that this is so much the more the case with improved sheep. While they are treated with the utmost vigilance and care, as rare animals, it will do very well. But this is practicable only with a very limited stock, and is so no longer with its larger increase which brings with it all the calamities alluded to.

Without therefore, entering into further details, I may proceed to draw my conclusion which is this: North America will require our wool for a long time, till she can meet the demand of her own woollen manufactures, which are on the increase, and flourish well; and hence, instead of exporting wool to Europe, she will have to import from Europe, for a great length of time. We can therefore read with perfect calmness the accounts coming from America, and which assure us that the breeding of sheep makes much progress, and at no distant day, will supply not merely the domestic, but furnish even a surplus, for export.

The comparison, then, between production and consumption furnishes the following result: "As heretofore, the production has continued so very fur from surpassing the consumption that it does not even come up to it; so much so that even at this time an increase of flocks is desirable, which (as is evident) will be the case only in a still greater degree in future, since with the growth of population, the consumption of wool must increase in the same proportion." This shows that the future prospects of the wool business are very bright. However it must not be supposed, that extravagant prices can be calculated upon; because then, as was shown above, other kinds of materials are used, which limit the consumption of wool, and soon produce the effect of lowering its price; whereas low prices increase the consumption and insure its production.

Import of Wool into England in the year, 1842, §.c. in bales.

Total.... 229,167 bales. 189,104 bales. 161,809 bales.

.......

XVI.—Requisite qualities of Wool for manufacturing purposes.

Of the superiority and varieties of German Wool.-I will commence by stating the qualities required of wool for the purposes of manufacturing.

It must be healthy, i. e. produced by a healthy sheep; for, if otherwise, it lacks strength, and in the violent process it has to go through, it will go to pieces. The cases, where for certain fabrics weak and feeble wool is sought after, constitute merely an exception to the rule.

Furthermore, it must be nervous, for it then possesses greater strength, and is more elastic, so that its hair is finer and makes the fabric to last better, which of course renders this wool highly appreciated by the manufacturers, as it ensures them their old customers, and procures them new ones.

Again, it must be tender and fine. To what degree these qualities may be requisite, depends upon the kind of manufactures for which the wool is used. For a wool which is fine in the view of one manufacturer, may not even be middling in that of another. With some manufacturers it is not exactly fineness that they desire, but they require of the common wool which they use for their fabrics, a certain pliancy and tenderness, which make it work easier and produce a better species of goods. And that is what they call fineness, it being all that is requisite for their purposes.

So too, it must not have grown unhealthfully. This comprises the two extremes, viz. the sickly and the luxurious growth. Both are faulty and lessen the value of the wool.

It likewise must be neither too long nor too short. This has often been discussed. In the history of the breeding of merino sheep we meet with several periods, where sometimes progress was made in one respect, and then a retrograde motion ensued. Originally great length was viewed as best. This was advantageous for the sheep breeder, because it gave him a heavier weight of fleece. Then the opposite extreme became predominant, and "the shorter the better" was the prevailing view. Moreover, at the same time a high degree of fineness was the grand object. The high prices paid for a wool of this kind, made up for the small weight of the fleece. Thus arose the state of scantiness of wool in many of the flocks, from which they can be rescued only by a skilful conduct.

Finally, it must be well treated, during the time of its growth, as well as at the washing and shearing. It is the treatment whereby the secret, for the greater part, must be explained, why the wool of Germany, and especially of some of the German states has so decided preference over that of other countries. This is so much the case, that the wool of the very same sheep which furnish in Germany an eminently fine and valuable product, on their being transplanted to other countries can scarcely be recognised and is hardly worth half its former value.

The so called "country wool," i. e. very common wool, has become quite rare in Germany, and in some parts it has disappeared altogether. It needs not to be questioned whether the breeding of sheep has been, and still is, benefitted by the complete extinction of the common country sheep. For now that Germany can furnish the wool which is called common wool, although even this is an improved quality, at the same price which formerly was paid for country wool, no man can have a doubt whether he would prefer wearing fine cloth, when he can have it at the same price as a common and coarse one. There are none but the furriers and persons fond of sheep skin fur who would raise any objection. That improved wool must

have great preferences over the common, is a self-evident proposition. It not only furnishes a fabric more agreeable to the consumer, but the cloth made of it is also more durable. It is not likely then that, in consequence of the progress of improved sheep breeding in Germany, common wool should disappear entirely, nor would a result such as that be desirable. For, if it ever should come to pass, they would suffer in their own wool trade, and would have to supply their wants (as e. g. soldier cloth) from abroad, which would injure their domestic manufacturing interests.

It is now (1845) not fully ten years since long carded wool became the subject of much discussion, and was highly commended as the proper means to effect, to some extent, a restriction of the over-production of short merino wool, in case some of the wool growers should give up the latter and commence raising the former. The expectations indulged in, however, were disappointed in some measure, and it must be of interest to ascertain, how it came to be so. This will teach us at the same time, whether the production of fine carded wool has any chance of becoming a general and more profitable business.

About twelve years ago, several spinning mills for carded woollen yarn were established in Germany. They did a splendid business, they were not even able to execute all the orders they received, and sometimes they were in greatest want of the raw material, not having been supplied sufficiently with wool of the requisite length. No sooner had this become known among wool growers than the resolution was adopted, to produce wool of that length, the hope having been entertained that a rewarding price would be paid for the wool, if it be grown by merino sheep. The subject was also debated in the sessions of the Agricultural Society of Vienna, and in consequence thereof several wool growers made attempts which, indeed, turned out quite satisfactory. Still it soon met with unforeseen obstructions, some of which we may specify here:

In the first place, in the flocks with which the experiment had been made, there were many retrograding to the original blood, that is to say, they relapsed again into producing short wool, and which it became necessary constantly to remove, in order fairly to consolidate it. Thus, the number did not increase, and it was impossible to furnish the wool in as large quan. tities as spinners desired. The demand for it, therefore, remained very limited and the price too low.

In the second place, long wool sheep require particularly rich pastures, which, in the present state of agriculture, do not exist in Germany to an extent such as to feed large flocks. In some foreign countries, on the other hand, as in Hungary and Polynesia, they exist abundantly, so that enormous flocks can be fed; and those two countries have such vast advantage over Germany that the Germans would be unable to compete with them, but for the superior quality of their wool. This, however, cannot well be expected in the case of their carded wool, because, owing to the want of such pastures it does not possess the great length, and more especially not that laxity or slackness which in such wool is essentially requisite to make it fully adapted to the purposes for which it is used. For, in a like manner as one of the principal merits of merino wool is its flexibility, i. e. the power of contracting itself, when the wool, worked up to cloth, comes to be fulled; the opposite quality is one of the chief requisites in carded wool, because the goods made of the latter are smooth and must have no "cover," as it is called.

In the third place, the price paid for such carded wool, is not so high as fully to reward the trouble and the sacrifice it requires. Some wool growers had been of opinion that a real carded merino wool must be a highly valuable product, because they thought that, from its superior quality, the stuffs made of it would be preferred in many cases to silk. This expectation, however, has not been fully realized, principally because the anticipated perfection and beauty has never been attained. The natural flexibility of merino wool presents one of the chief impediments to changing it into a perfect carded wool. For this reason it can succeed only in those countries where the pastures and climates are such as to lessen the flexibility of the wool, as is the case with Hungary and Polynesia. From the similarity of the American pastures to those of Hungary and Polynesia, it may be assumed a priori that the same result will be obtained in this country.

Still although the attempts to produce carded merino wool, were not attended by a very bright success in Germany, the hope of succeeding in the end, by perseverance, is not by any means relinquished. I do not mean to say that such wool will be grown throughout Germany, but that it will become and remain a production merely of single provinces. I will mention only two in which it already exists on an extensive scale, viz., Bohemia and Mecklenburgh. In the mountainous portion of Bohemia are very large pastures similar to those in Hungary, and improved sheep are found there, whose wool, by the average of entire flocks, after one year's growth measures a length of from two and a half to three inches, and which, accordingly, answers well for the comb, particularly because its curves are flat, which puts the right limits to its flexibility. Many of the owners of such flocks hardly know what a wool they produce; they let the thing go its own course, and are well satisfied with the regular and ready customers they find. By devoting full attention to the subject, they undoubtingly could arrive at a higher degree of perfection and would increase their income; for, the wool produced would be better fit for use and would be more valuable, and then again the quantity produced would be larger, inasmuch as the product would have greater length.

At present the carded wool in the wool trade of Germany plays too much of a secondary part. In Bohemia it is not distinguished and separated from the other sorts, until it is stored up in the warehouses of the wool dealers, before being sold to the customers. In Mecklenburgh it heretofore was exclusively in the hands of some few wool-dealers, who, assuredly must have made a profitable business of it. Should this wool be produced on a larger scale, and be introduced into the wholesale traffic, so that more persons become engaged in it and will be in search of it than at present, its price would soon increase, and wool growers bestow upon it greater care and attention, which, no doubt, must have the effect of securing a rapid progress in its production, both as to quantity and quality. By its production, the field of wool growing is much enlarged in Germany, and a wider territory opened for the wool trade, both of which must serve to improve the future prospects of one as well as the other.

XVII.-On Agricultural Schools

The most celebrated agricultural schools of Germany are those of Hohen hiem in Wurtemberg, of Schleisshiem in Bavaria, of Tharandt in Saxony, of Giesberg near Wiesbaden in Nassau, and of Moegelin in Prussia.

It was one of the principal objects of my voyage to visit some of these

schools; and being at Berlin, so near to Moegelin, (about thirty English miles) I set out to visit the resting place of father Thäer (as he is called among the husbandmen of Germany) and his school, where many an eminent agriculturist has been 'educated. Partly by rail foad, and partly by stage, I reached Moegelin, which lies a short distance from the public way. As we approached it, the horses could scarcely pull the vehicle through the sand; and I could not well conceive how it was, that Thäer had chosen such a sterile region, too poor for the growth of pine, for an experimental farm.

Von Thäer, the son of the celebrated agriculturist, was absent; but one of the professors received me very kindly, and offered me a room in the building where the pupils lodge, which I had to accept as there was no other lodging-house on the place.

I found the pupils busily engaged in packing up, as the time of vacation had commenced, and several had already gone. I dined with them, at the family table of Von Thäer, and rambled with some of them through the fields, farm yard, and its extensive buildings.

The number of pupils this year was twenty, and never exceeds that number; they were all grown, and sons of rich gentlemen. The next day Von Thäer returned. I found in him a well informed, exceedingly obliging and polite gentleman. I passed with him. many hours, in conversation upon various subjects of agriculture, especially on breeding merinos; and he presented me with several specimens of his best wool; laid before me the pedigrees of his merino flocks; at the office, he explained to me his mode of keeping books by double entry, whereby every branch has its debit and credit, kept in perfect order and great accuracy, and continually open to the inspection of the pupils. He allowed me to take sketches of some of his best rams and ewes, which I did with great care, in order to give a true representation of the form of that breed, as it is just now thought the most advantageous. I say just now, because there is in this, like as in every thing else, a little of humbug among sheep-breeders of this part of Germany. During the time I was occupied in drawing, his upper shepherd, (schafmeister,) gave me many details of the management of their flocks. I visited the artificial meadows, which are irrigated from a pond not far from the estate; collected on that matter all the information I could, which I give under different chapters, in order to avoid repetition and bring every thing within the space of a few pages.

Thäer selected this barren tract to show what knowledge, perseverance and a well regulated system can effect. Moegelin lies on an extensive sandy plain, the soil producing only through rich manuring and judicious rotation of crops. The sheep are fed upon artificial pastures, which in dry seasons yield scarcely food enough. Potatoes are raised in great quantity, which are fed to sheep and cattle during the winter. A great many of them are likewise distilled. Throughout the north of Germany potatoes form the principal fallow crop, and are used for whiskey, the slop of which is given to cows and sheep. This is a decidedly unnatural food for the latter; but în these districts, where land is poor and scarce, they are obliged to manage in some forced way to keep their sheep through the winter. It is not very advantageous for the wool; and when it is given in too great quantities, it injures the growth and quality of the fleece. Thäer has, as a matter of course, good implements, threshing machines, &c.; fine cattle, and a choice ock of merino sheep. Around him is nothing for show, but every thing