The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-10-22
THE WOOL INDUSTRY
A History and Review Issued by
The Department of Agriculture
First Ship Brought to the Country
Said to Have Been Landed at
Jamestown, Va, in 1So9-Hosy
Woodworking and Manufacture
Became "a Matter of Patriotism.

| jamestown, Va, in 1GOY-HOyv
Woodworking and Manufacture
| Became Matter of Patriotism.
| a review of the progress OF American
sheep husbandry. prepared by j. R. Dodge,
has beeen issued by the Depar -ment OF
Agriculture Several pages are devoted to
a brief history of woolgrowing in colonial
times.
The first settlers" it is sad, in the
American colonies in Virginia, Massachu-
sets, and in New York. either brought
sheep with them or with the earliest i'm
portation of supplies from their native
land With furniture and household
equipment came the loom and tt e spinning
wheel The matrons Of the household were
weavers and the daughters 81 insters. The
clothing of the country people ws.s largely
of domestic manufacture from wool grown
on the farm The sheep were mainly from
the countries of the settlers-Ens gland and
Holland They were of coarsa-wool breeds,
but not the highly improved breeds Of the
long and middle woods of today. They were
of less weight, longer of limb, less COM
pact and symmetrical Of bod. and CT
lighter fleece. Those from England were
the unimproyed progenitoTs Of the mutton
breeds, which have been nodded by slow
degrees of patient breeding into the pres
ent forms.
1T is said that the first sheep bl ought
! into the colonies Were landed at James
| town Va in 1909 Settlement Il wv,
and the increase of sheep moderate, but
in 1919 the number in Virginia Was re-
| ported at 2000, There was early i'm
| portations into Massachusetts, I'll By
1910 the number was estimated at S,t60.
| ha hron
Netherlands in 1925 and again in 1880.
a Swedish colony in Delaware brought
over eighty sheep in 1863
| Colonial legislatures encouraged wool
growing and manufacture. IN 1915 Ma sa-
| chusetts enacted a law fer the encourage
ment of the raising of Sheep -: n 1856
one was passed requiring each family to
spin three pounds of wool, cotton, or
fax per week for thirty weeks of the
| year. In the same year a skilled weaver
was induced by grant CT thir J ace If
land to settle in Lowell, Mass, VIII Oh
has since become "a great centre of the
textile industry. Virginia. lizzie later
1882, prohibited the expectation of
; wool, and offered a bounty of five pounds
of tobacco Virginia currency f-r every
yard of cloth made in the colony. Two
years later the General Assembly pro-
!. yided for the establishment Ct looms
and weavers in each county. The other
! colonies enacted laws for the encourage
ment OF WoolgrowIng and manufacture
! Patriotic Industry.
Efforts were early made to encourage
! weavers and artisans to come from for
i eign countries and establish germ of the
later factory system by building and ope-
] rating fulIing mills. thus experimenting
the results of domestic manufacture. They
/ | so increased in the following century that
| the carding weaving, and spinning of wool
and the dressing OF cloth became general
| in all the colonies before the war of the
I Revolution.
las the friction between the mother
| country and the colonies became more in
/ tense, and the colonies were riPening for
/ the revolution, patriotic impulse for the
| wearing of homespun and the discardlng
= Of English goods became general It is
I said that the Harvard graduating class in
:. 1870 appeared in black cloth of New Eng
|. land manufacture Similar patriotic I'M
pulses aetuated colonial officials and pro-
fessional and business men, and women
WED with the men in their patriotic devo-
ton to homespun-
societies for the promotion OF agri-
culture sought to encourage and promote
wooIgrowtng by essays and premiums. In
1885 a medal was offered by South Caro-
lima society for the first flock of Merino
sheep. Prominent Virginians took posi-
: tive interest in the extension and I'M
provement OF sheep husbandry. Only one
as recorded in the history of the time, the
} eccentric John Randolph of Roanoke, was
: so averse to it that he expressed viii
' lingness at any tine to go out OF his way
a mile Ito kick sheep.
: In the other colonies the public men
! were ever the friends of woolgrowing. II
] was subject Of vital interest to ALL as
] clothing next to food, is the greatest
1 physical want of humanity. Cotton was
] | scarce and high, and wool for the winter
as fax fer the summer, was an ever-ad-
mitted necessity of existence. Public men
] almost without exception, were favorable
| to the encouragement by legislation, by
l | premium and bounty. Of the manufacture
. of wool. Societies and a general cOnsen-
sus of public opinion promoted and faclli-
tated personal effort for the extension OF
wooIgrowing and wool manufacture This
o was the situation at the time OF the eS'
Enlistment of the National Government
| There is no record Of mum bers of sheep
y but in proportion to population they maj
: have been nearly as numerous as at pres
n emit though not yielding as heavy heeces
: Twenty years afteTward under the infiu-
. ! ence of the MeTino excitement and fore
= cast OF war there were, according TO tins
Il best estimates more sheep than people,
|, number larger in proportion to population
y than at any time since; a number in 1915
as great as would be 100,000,G9G for the
: present population; number equal to the
; floeks of Australia OF those Of the Plats
$ River countries of South America at tht
r | present time.
: Introduction of the Merino.
The pamphlet deals at considerable
# length with the introduction of the Meri
IT no. 1t is recitcd that the Spanish Me
s. rino is the foundation of the present fine
l. wool 1oeks of all countries. This type o
$ sheep antedates the Christian era Sheel
q were held in Spain by the King, the no
bles, the clergy and others, and their ex
ID portation prohibited. Until the nine
> teenth century none could be obtained ex
Ct cept by royal favor or by smuggling
re which was very difficult. In 1865 500 wer
g introduced into Saxony by royal eourtes.
e, and were the origin of the Saxon improve
ID ment. They were said to be mostly of tn
Id Escurial family, assumed TO bear the fin
ID est wool Other families were the Infan
tados. Paulars, Negrittis, Montarcos, Quad
Id aIoupes, and Aguirres- The Infantado wa
Id popular breed (progenitor of mos
IT American fiocksl with soft, silky. an
De gumny wool; the Paulars were perhap
ct the handsomest; the Agu;rres were bette
l. covered in face and legs and the wool wa