Account of the Quantities of the different Varieties of Wine imported and retained for Home Consumption in the U. Kingdom, in 1857.

Price of Wines in London. - The following is an account of the price of wine in bond in London, in February, 1858, from the Circular of the eminent brokers Messrs. Matthew Clark and Sons.

WOAD (Ger. Waid; Du. Weede; Fr. Pastel, Guéde, Vouéde; It. Guadone, Guado, Glastro; Sp. Pustel, Glasto), the Isatis tinctoria of botanists, a biennial plant, with a fusiform fibrous root, and smooth branchy stem, rising from 3 to 5 feet in height. Woad is indigenous to most parts of Europe; and was extensively used from a very remote period, down to the general introduction of indigo, in the dyeing of blue. It is still cultivated to a considerable extent in France; but in this country its cultivation is chiefly restricted to a few districts in Lincolnshire. After being bruised by machinery, to express the watery part, it is formed into balls, which ferment and fall into a dry powder, which is sold to the dyer. Woad is now seldom employed without a mixture of indigo. By itself, it is incapable of giving a bright and deep blue colour; but the colour which it does give is very durable. The best methods of conducting the fermentation and preparation of woad are still so very ill understood, that the goodness of any parcel of it can never be ascertained till it be actually used; so that it has the disadvantage of being purchased under the greatest uncertainty as to its true value. At the proper age, indigo plants yield about 30 times as much colouring matter, and of a far superior quality, as an equal weight of woad; so that there is no prospect that any improvement that may be made in its preparation will ever render it, either in goodness or cheapness, a rival of the former. (Loudon's Ency. of Agriculture; Bancroft on Colours, vol. i. p. 167.) We have previously — (see INDIGO)—given some account of the efforts made by the woad growers to prevent the use of indigo.

WOOD. See TIMBER.

WOOL (Ger. Wolle; Du. Wol; Da. Uld; Sw. Ull; Fr. Laine; It. and Sp. Lana; Port. Lã Lâa; Rus. Wolna, Scherst; Pol. Welna; Lat. Lana), a kind of soft hair or down. The term is not very well defined. It is applied both to the fine hair of animals, as sheep, rabbits, some species of goats, the vicuna, &c.; and to fine vegetable fibres, as cotton. In this article, however, we refer only to the wool of sheep, an article which has continued, from the earliest period down to the present day, to be of primary importance, having always formed the principal part of the clothing of mankind in most temperate regions.

Species of Wool. It has been customary in this country to divide wool into 2 great

classes.

long and short wools; and these again into subordinate classes, according to the fineness of the fibre.

Short wool is used in the cloth manufacture; and is, therefore, frequently called clothing wool. It may vary in length from 1 to 3 or 4 inches; if it be longer, it requires to be cut or broken to prepare it for the manufacture.

The felting property of wool is known to every one. The process of hat making, for example, depends entirely upon it. The wool of which hats are made is neither spun nor woven; but locks of it, being thoroughly intermixed and compressed in warm water, cohere and form a solid tenacious substance.

Cloth and woollen goods are made from wool possessing this property; the wool is carded, spun, woven, and then, being put into the fulling mill, the process of felting takes place. The strokes of the mill make the fibres cohere; the piece subjected to the operation contracts in length and breadth, and its texture becomes more compact and uniform. This process is essential to the beauty and strength of woollen cloth. But the long wool of which stuffs and worsted goods are made is deprived of its felting properties. This is done by passing the wool through heated iron combs, which takes away the lamina or feathery part of the wool, and approximates it to the nature of silk or cotton. Long or combing wool may vary in length from 3 to 8 inches. The shorter combing wools are principally used for hose, and are spun softer than the long combing wools; the former being made into what is called hard, and the latter into soft worsted yarn. The fineness of the hair or fibre can rarely be estimated, at least for any useful purpose, except by the wool sorter or dealer, accustomed by long habit to discern those minute differences that are quite inappreciable by common observers. In sorting wools, there are frequently 8 or 10 different species in a single fleece; and if the best wool of one fleece be not equal to the finer sort, it is thrown to a 2d, 3d, or 4th, or to a still lower sort, of an equal degree of fineness with it. The best English short native fleeces, such as the fine Norfolk and Southdown, are generally divided by the wool sorter into the following sorts, all varying in fineness from each other: viz. 1. Prime; 2. Choice;

3. Super; 4. Head; 5. Downrights; 6. Seconds; 7. Fine Abb; 8. Coarse Abb; 9. Livery; 10. Short coarse or breech wool. The relative value of each varies, according to the greater demand for coarse, fine, or middle cloths.

The softness of the fibre is a quality of great importance. It is not dependent on the fineness of the fibre; and consists of a peculiar feel, approaching to that of silk or down. The difference in the value of 2 pieces of cloth made of 2 kinds of wool equally fine, but one distinguished for its softness and the other for the opposite quality, is such, that, with the same process and expense of manufacture, the one will be worth from 20 to 25 per cent. more than the other. Mr. Bakewell showed that the degree of softness depends principally on the nature of the soil on which sheep are fed: that sheep pastured on chalk districts, or light calcareous soils, usually produce hard wool: while the wool of those that are pastured on rich, loamy, argillaceous soils, is always distinguished by its softness. Of the foreign wools, the Saxon is generally softer than the Spanish. Hard wools are all defective in their felting properties.

In clothing wool, the colour of the fleece should always approach as much as possible to the purest white; because such wool is not only necessary for cloths dressed white, but for all cloths that are to be pyed bright colours, for which a clear white ground is required to give a due degree of richness and lustre. Some of the English fine woolled sheep, as the Norfolk and Southdown, have black or grey faces and legs. In all such sheep there is a tendency to grow grey wool on some part of the body, or to produce some grey fibres intermixed with the fleece, which renders the wool unfit for many kinds of white goods; for though the black hairs may be too few and minute to be detected by the wool sorter, yet when the cloth is stoved they become visible, forming reddish spots, by which its colour is much injured. The Herefordshire sheep, which have white faces, are entirely free from this defect, and yield a fleece without any admixture of grey hairs.

The cleanness of the wool is an important consideration. The Spanish wool, for example, is always scoured after it is shorn; whereas the English wool is only imperfectly washed on the sheep previously to its being shorn. In consequence, it is said that while a pack of English clothing wool of 240 lbs. weight will waste about 70 lbs. in the manufacture, the same quantity of Spanish will not waste more than 48 lbs. Cleanness, therefore, is an object of much importance to the buyer.

Before the recent improvements in the spinning of wool by machinery, great length and strength of staple was considered indispensable in most combing wools. The fleeces of the long woolled sheep fed in the rich marshes of Kent and Lincoln used to be reckoned peculiarly suitable for the purposes of the wool-comber: but the improvements alluded to have effected a very great change in this respect; and have enabled the manufacturer to substitute short wool of 3 inches staple, in the place of long combing wool, in the preparation of most worsted articles. A great alteration has, in consequence, taken place in the proportion of long to short wool since 1800; there having been in the interim, according to Mr. Hubbard's calculations-(see post),-an increase of 132,053 packs in the quantity of the former produced in England, and a decrease of 72,820 in the quantity of the latter.

Whiteness of fleece is of less importance in the long combing than in clothing wool, provided it be free from grey hairs. Sometimes, however, the fleece has a dingy brown colour, called a winter stain, which is a sure indication that the wool is not in a thoroughly sound state. Such fleeces are carefully thrown out by the wool sorter; being suitable only for goods that are to be dyed black. The fineness of heavy combing wool is not of so much consequence as its other qualities.

The Merino or Spanish breed of sheep was introduced into this country about the close of the last century. George III. was a great patron of this breed, which was for several years a very great favourite. But it has been ascertained that, though the fleece does not much degenerate here, the carcase, which is naturally ill formed, and affords comparatively little weight of meat, does not improve; and as the farmer, in the kind of sheep which he keeps, must look not only to the produce of wool, but also to the butcher market, he has found it his interest rather to return to the native breeds of his own country, and to give up the Spanish sheep. They have, however, been of considerable service to the flocks of England; having been judiciously crossed with the Southdown, Ryeland, &c.

Deterioration or Change in the Character of British Wool. It appears to be sufficiently established, by the evidence taken before the House of Lords in 1828, and other authorities, that a considerable deterioration, or rather, perhaps, change, has taken place in the quality of British wool, particularly during the 30 preceding years. The great object of the agriculturist has been to increase the weight of the carcase and the quantity of the wool; and it seems very difficult, if not quite impossible, to accomplish this without injuring the fineness of the fleece. Mr. Culley says, that the Herefordshire sheep, that produce the finest wool, are kept lean, and yield 14 lb. each; he adds, "if they be better kept, they grow large and produce more wool, but of an inferior quality.' This would seem to be universally true. The great extension of the turnip husbandry, and the general introduction of a larger breed of sheep, appears, in every instance, to have lessened the value of the fleece. Speaking of the Norfolk fleeces, Mr. Fison, a wool sorter, says, that 25 years ago the weight was 24 lbs. a fleece, and that now it is 3 lbs. or 3 lbs. - (Report, p. 356.) But according to a Table furnished by the same gentleman, containing the results of his experience, it appears that of 15 tods, or 420 lbs., of clothing wool grown in Norfolk in 1790, 200 lbs. were prime, while, in 1828, the same quantity of Norfolk wool only yielded 14 lbs. prime ! ·(Ibid. p. 207.) The statements of other witnesses are to the same effect. - (Ibid. pp. 388. 640. and 644.) According to the estimate in Mr. Luccock's Treatise on English Wool, which has always enjoyed the highest reputation, the produce of all sorts of wool in England, in 1800, was 384,000 packs, of 240 lbs. a pack. But Mr. Hubbard, a very intelligent and extensive wool-stapler at Leeds, has shown, that, supposing Mr. Luccock's estimate of the number of sheep to be correct, the quantity of wool produced in 1828 could not, owing to the greater weight of the fleece, be estimated at less than 463,169 packs; and it is now (1844) believed to amount to fully 500,000 packs. It is, therefore, probable, notwithstanding the decline in the price of wool, that, taking into account the greater weight of the carcase, and the greater weight of the fleece, sheep produce more at present to the farmer than at any former period.

Number of Sheep in Great Britain. — It is not possible to form any accurate estimate either of the number of sheep or of the quantity of wool annually produced. With the exception of Mr. Luccock's, most of the statements put forth with respect to both these points seem much exaggerated. But Mr. L.'s estimate, which is considerably under any that had previously appeared, was drawn up with great care; and is supposed to approach near to accuracy. According to Mr. Luccock, the

Number of long woolled sheep in England and Wales in 1800, was

4,153,308 14,854,299

19,007,607

4,221,748

211,037

1,180,413

59,020 1,400,560

70,028

7,140,156

26,147,763

Total number of sheep and lambs

In some parts of England there has been an increase in the number of sheep since 1800, and in others they have decreased. But we have been assured by competent judges, that, on the whole, the number has not materially varied in the interim.

During the last half century a very decided increase has taken place in the number of sheep in Scotland, and a very great improvement in the breed, particularly in the Highlands. In this district, many of the proprietors have let their estates in large farms to store farmers, who have introduced the Cheviot breed of sheep, instead of the small black-faced heath breed that was formerly the only one to be met with. We may remark, by the way, that a good deal of unmerited odium has attached to the patrons of this system; for, though it be true that, in a few instances, the peasantry were rudely ejected from their little possessions, there can be no doubt that it has, on the whole, been decidedly advantageous. Besides rendering large tracts of country more valuable to the proprietors and the public generally, the condition and habits of the peasantry have been materially improved. Instead of loitering away more than half their time, as was their former practice, they have now either become the servants of the large farmers, or have resorted to towns and villages, and been metamorphosed into industrious tradesmen, fishermen, &c. A very small proportion of the whole has emigrated; and the country is more populous at present than before the sheep farming system began.

In the General Report of Scotland (vol. iii. Appen. p. 6.), the number of sheep is estimated at 2,850,000; and allowing for the increase that has taken place since 1814, we may, perhaps, estimate the total number of sheep in that part of the empire at this moment at 3,500,000. And in consequence of the rapid extension, during the last dozen years, of the practice of turnip-feeding, both the weight of the carcase and of the fleece have been largely increased.

According to Mr. Wakefield, there is not a single flock of breeding sheep in the whole province of Ulster. -(Account of Ireland, vol. i. p. 341.) And though there be considerable flocks in Roscommon and other counties, we believe that, if we estimate the whole number of sheep in Ireland at 2,000,000, we shall be a good deal beyond the mark.

On the whole, therefore, if we are right in these estimates, the total number of sheep in Great Britain and Ireland may be taken at about 32,000,000. This estimate is 10,000,000 under that given by Dr. Colquhoun for 1812; but that learned person assigns no grounds whatever for his estimate, which is utterly inconsistent with all the really authentic information on the subject. It is curious enough to observe the German statistical writers referring to Colquhoun's statements, as if they were of standard authority. They would be about as near the mark, were they to quote the "Arabian Nights" in proof of any disputed historical fact.

Number of Sheep and Quantity of Sheep's Wool produced in England, according to Mr. Luccock's Tables, revised by Mr. Hubbard, and made applicable to 1828.