Washington sentinel., 1853-11-06
Agriful
From the Richmond Dispatch, NovembsrI
Fair at Richmond. Virgins

THIRD DAY.-The chief matter of interest in
the fair grounds for the day was the lecture Of
Mr.. Peter A. Browne, of Philadelphia. A little
in advance of the hour appointed for him, the
worthy lecturer and his son Ia most intelligent
gentleman) arranged small portion of the
specimens of Mr.. BIS collection on the table
They exhibited the care and system with which
he had collected them, and excited very gen.
eral interest. After the armory band had per-
formed one or two airs Mr.. Browne proceeded
with his address.
/ Mr.. Browne dsclaimed all pretentions to elo-
i quence on the occasion. His object was to
| exhibit his specimens of wool, and to tell the
| truth about the varieties of wool and hair,
which was interesting to Virginia and the Uni
ted States. The subject Of hair and wool was
little understood, and he doubted whether there
was man in that audience who could give the
proper definition Of hair and wool, and could
tell the difference between them. 1t was a
subject of exceeding importance to science, to
manufactures and the arts, and especially was
it interesting to Virginia.
the hair or pile, (from the Latin pihts,) he went
on to say, that the most interesting variety was
that found upon the head of man. This con-
sisted of three kinds-one cylindrical, the se-
| cond oval, and third eccentrical eliptical.
| The hair of the Indian was cylindrical, that of
/ the Caucasian or white man was oval, and that
of the negro eccentrical ehptcal. In the hair
of the white man there was n tube through
1 which passed the coloring matter. These three
kinds Of hair indicated different species of men,
and all the preaching in the world could not
satisfy him that they did not.
| Hair, continued the lecturer, differed from
wool altogether. Wool was eccentrical elipti-
/ CAL and was the same whether from the me-
l Z. L L ln1 u. -
hair came out at an acute angle with the epi
| dermis and descended over the shoulders, and
would fall over the face if not put aside the
negro's hair came ont at right angles with the
epidermis, and but for its corkscrew twist,
would stand out like the quills of a porcupine.
There was marked difference between the
scales on the hair of the white man and that
| of the negro. In the former they hardly de-
served the name of scales They were less nu-
/ merous, rounded at their extremities and ad-
hered close to the body In the latter the num-
| ber was greater-they were sharp and stood
out from the body. 1t was this standing out of
the scales that gave wool its adaptation to felt
ing. The scales, which were about $4,000 to
the inch, became locked and wedged in, SO that
| with the aid of heating and pressing, the felt
was formed without the help Of spinning or
| weaving. The same was the case in fulling,
Now, you sometimes send piece Of flannel
to the lauhdress and it comes back so shrunk
that you can't get into it. That flannel was
made Of tho wrong fleece. Itwas not the fault
of the laundress. In the operation Of washing
the flannel had become compacted as in felting.
/ This brought the speaker to the difference in
the species Of sheep-one producing what he
called hair suited for flannels, and the other the
wool for other fabrics. The wool in sheep was
a test of its species, as was the hair with man.
This showed two and only two species of sheep,
while there we're three species exhibited by the
hair Of man. Though the varieties of wool were
astonishingly great, you may search the world
over, said he, and there are but two species Of
| sheep. Now, as with man, a mixture of these
| species produced the hybrid. The object of the
sheep raiser should be permanency in his
| breeds-not to have breed that would die out
in one or five years. The sheep raiser should
| understand these matters TO pursue his voca-
ton successfully; and it was a matter of espe
cial importance to Virginia, which would be
one of the greatest sheep-raising countries, as
it was one Of the best in the world for that pur-
pose. England can't raise fine wool. Lord
Weston had spent a fortune in the effort, and
failed; and the failure was confessed by intel
| ligent Englishmen. Where was England to
get her supply? The hope from Australia was
blghted by the gold fever, and Germany, Sax
ony, and Liberia were unable to supply her great
demand. To this country she would have to
look; and instead of our importing 52,000,000
Of pounds annually, we should export twice
| that amount.
Sheep breeding was to become q great busi-
| ness in Virginia, while England could produce
only the hair for lannels, carpets and hose, and
Saxony could only produce the fine wool for
| felt and the manufacture Of cloth. Virginid
could produce both. She had only to select the
climate and locality with care, and keep focks
free from amalgamation, and she could pro-
duce the best wool in the world Go to the
western part of the State-look at the speci-
mems of Kelso's wool, and Patterson's wool of
Bedford, which were in his collection, and see
what would compare with any produced in Eu.
rope. In the eastern part of the State and
| along the coast was the region for the produc
ton of the wools for fannels and carpeting
| Let not the sheep Of the mountains be brought
| to the coast, nor those of the coast be carried
| to the mountains, and above all, let there be
no amalgamation.
The speaker, after explaining the present
| condition Of the wool market, from which he
deduced that there would be no doubt of q
| constant demand and ready sale for all we
| could produce-returned again to the subject
| of the danger Of amalgamation. On that rock
| the sheep husbandman was in danger of split
| ting. There was on the fair grounds Ram
bouilet sheep, that was greatly extolled, and,
he had the best authority for. pronouncing it
Hybrid. The hybrid was not made by God,
and could not perpetuate its species. In the
third or fourth generation the hybrid Of the
| white and black runs cut An extraordinary
circumstance had been discovered by himself
that was, while we find in the white man only
oval hair, and in the negro different kind,
put them together, and in the hybrid they pro-
duced, we have neither one nor the other
kind, but some of both. The same was the
case in mixing the breeds Of sheep-there was
some wool and some hair in the fleece of the
hybrid for that reason, was not fit for
| manufacturing.
Mr.. Browne explained TO the audience the
| Importance Of the sheep.raiser, becoming well
acquainted with the varieties Of wool, and ex-
hibited instruments for testing the 6neness and
strength of wool--one Of them only costing so
\ cents. k