The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-08-21 00:00:00

Corrcoponbrnce.

PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE_

La-rnso No. XXVII.

Olt THE PRESENT VALCI OF WOOL; A FEW
REASONS FOR ITS BEING NO DEAR; AND WHY
THE HIGH PRICE 18 LIKELY TO CONTINUL.

To the Editor of the Dorset Costray Express and
A gricult u rat Gazette.

Sin,—Many of your agricultural readers know
that wool is very high just now, but the majority of
them do not know why it is so, so I will endeavour
to point out this seeming mystery.
Perhaps there never was a time when wool has
kept so comparatively dear for so many years as it
has done of late, and this has not been caused by
the abortmais of the supply, nor by any alarming
decrease in importation, but I assure your readers
it is entirely owing to the increased demand, and
the cause of this increase may be seen by you, air, or
any other right thinking man. We sill just
suppose that it is Sunday to-day, and that we are
going to church in our good old county town of
Dorchester, and are inspecting the number of peers
by, say high and low, rich and poor, and we .all
find nearly all clothed in wool. Nearly every gamiest
you see on the male sex is made of woo:, or on irly
so; then let us carry our memory back a few years,
and we shall then find that the dress of the multitnebe
was very different, and that cotton cord, fustian,.
and smock frocks were the order of the day, and.
very rarely would you see a labourer dressed in wool.
Again, just look at the dwellings of mechanics and
little tradesmen, and they will be found nicely car-
peted, and far more comfortable than they were only
a few years since; and all this increases the demand
for wool. Then, just consider the difference in the
position of the public generally, which is now such
as to enable them to buy a better class of goods.
By way of illustration, I will just give the words of
one of the Yorkshire peasantry, who, on looking at
some cloth in a drapers shop, asked the question,
" Hoo I" "Yea, a' boo," was the reply. The mean-
ing of this question and answer is " Wool " "Yes,
all wool." The reply being given in the affirmative,
a sale was effected.
These, with many other causei,have been the mama
of increasing the demand for wool.
Now, Sir, I think wool must continue very high
for some years, for although it may be said that im-
portations will cause the article to rise or fall, it must
be admitted that the quantity shorn this year has
been considerably below an average ; perhaps not so
I much in quantity per head, but it has been remark-
ably so in numbers, and this has been priucipally
owing to the weather; and from personal observation
and inquiry, I am enabled to state that the moitality
in sheep has been almost without precedent, an I had
it not been for the large importations of Dutch hay
t would have been alarming to the country.
In a letter which I wrote you some monthi ago' I
endeavoured to show that the number of sheep could
not be increased for many years; and as that state-
ment has met with no contradiction, I must presume
that it was correct, and that I am right in say";
that wool will continue very dear. I will take din
opportunity of recommending all farmers to do thin-
beat to produce as much as possible.
I remain, Sir,
yours respectfully,
PROFITABLE AGRICULTURE.

[My letter, No. XXVIII., will be on "The only
Way to increase the Quantity of Wool ; and a little
calculation showing that,with care,this increase may
be made profitably.")