retained for home consumption in 1790, exceeded that retained for the same purpose in 1832, by more than 390,000 Imperial gallons! The Irish are particularly attached to French wines; and supposing the duty were fixed on an ad valorem principle, so that it should be 3s. 6d. or 4s. a gallon on the finer wines, we have no doubt whatever that the consumption would be speedily doubled or trebled, not only in Ireland, but also in Britain. We subjoin

An Account of the Quantities of all Sorts of Wine retained for Consumption in IRELAND, during the Four Years ending with 1832, and of the Nett Revenue accruing thereon.

Rates of duty same in Ireland as in Great Britain, since 1814.

Adulteration of Wine.-We have already alluded to this practice. It was prosecuted to a very great extent previously to the reduction of the duties in 1825, and is still very far from being suppressed. It has been affirmed, but we are inclined to suspect the statement of exaggeration, that at this moment more than a third of all the sherry consumed in London is the produce of the home presses! Indeed, wines are every day offered for sale at prices at which every one conversant with the trade knows they could not be afforded were they genuine. Mr. Fleetwood Williams has given, in his valuable pamphlet on the Wine Trade (1824), some curious details on this subject.

The imposition of the duties on an ad valorem principle, by allowing genuine wine to be sold at a low price, would put an effectual stop to the practices of the adulterators. The increase of the duties in the reigns of William and Anne first gave birth to this discreditable fraternity-(see a curious paper of Addison's, Tatler, No. 131.); and it will continue to flourish as long as the duties are maintained on their present footing.

The only security against being imposed upon, is to deal only with respectable houses; with those largely engaged in the trade; and to whom a reputation for selling good wine is of ten times more importance than any thing they could expect to make by adulteration.

Account of the Quantity of French and other Sorts of Wine retained for Home Consumption in GREAT BRITAIN from 1789 to 1832; specifying the Produce of the Duty, and the Rates of Duty thereon.

Account of the Quantities of Foreign Wines retained for Home Consumption in the UNITED KINGDOM distinguishing each Sort, during each of the 13 Years ended 5th January, 1836. (Imp. Meas.)

Account exhibiting the Quantities of the different Sorts of Wine imported into and exported from the United Kingdom in the Year ending the 5th of January, 1840; the Quantities of each Sort retained for Home Consumption; the Rates of Duty; and the Gross and Nett Revenue accruing thereon.

Price of Wine in London.-The following is an account of the price of wine in bond in London, in December, 1836.

Measures. According to the system of wine measures that prevailed down to 1826, the gallon contained 231 cubic inches; the tierce, 42 gallons; the puncheon, 84 gallons; the hogshead, 63 gallons; the pipe or butt, 126 gallons; and the tun, 252 gallons. But in the new system of measures introduced by the act 5 Geo. 4. c. 74., the Imperial standard gallon contains 277 274 cubic inches; so that the tierce =35 (very nearly) Imperial gallons; the puncheon 70 (very nearly) do.; the hogshead = 52 (very nearly) do.; the pipe or butt 105 (very nearly) do.; and the tun=210 (very nearly) do.-(See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.)

A very great quantity of wine is sold to the consumer in dozens; and much more, indeed, than is sold in any other way; and yet there is no regulation as to the size of bottles,-a defect which has occasioned a great deal of abuse. No one doubts the propriety of making all gallons, bushels, &c. of the same capacity; and why should not similar regulations be enforced in the case of measures so universally used as bottles?

Wine the produce of Europe may not be imported for home consumption, except in British ships, or in ships of the country of which the wine is the produce, or of the country from which it is imported, on forfeiture thereof, and 1001. by the master of the ship.-(3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 54.)

No abatement of duties made on account of any damage received by wine.--(3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 52.) Wine from the Cape must be accompanied by a certificate of its production.-(See antè, p. 8.) Wine exported to foreign parts, from the bonded warehouses, must be shipped in vessels of not less than 70 tons burden.-(3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 57.)

Wine for Officers of Navy.-For the quantity of duty-free wine to be allowed to officers of the navy, and the regulations under which it is to be allowed, see antè, p. 15.

Regulations as to mixing, bottling, &c. in Warehouses.-1. Wines, when deposited in warehouses of special security, or in warehouses situated near the places of landing and shipping, and declared in the order of approval to be substantially built, and capable of affording general accommodation to the trade, may be allowed to be fitted up, fined, and racked, as often as the owners may deem necessary, the lees to be destroyed without payment of duty, the quantities destroyed being correctly ascertained for the purpose of being eventually deducted from the official accounts.

2. Bonded brandy may be allowed to be added to wine in the bonded stores for its preservation or improvement, and the whole to pay duty as wine upon being taken out for home consumption, provided the whole quantity of brandy contained in the wine, at the time of entry for home consumption,

*The other sorts are quite trifling, and do not deserve notice.

do not exceed 20 per cent.; and that a proper sample for the purpose of ascertaining the strength be allowed to be taken out by the proper officers.

3. Wines may be allowed to be mixed with wines of the same description as often as necessary for their preservation or improvement; provided that wine so mixed be kept separate from other wine, and that the packages containing the same be branded as mixed wine, and the brand or other marks of the original shipper be effaced.-(Treasury Order, 20th of May, 1830)

Wine may be bottled for exportation in a bonded vault appropriated for the purpose, upon giving 24 hours' notice; but no foreign bottles, corks, or packages may be used, except those in which the wine may have been imported and warehoused, unless the full duties shall have been paid on the same; and not less than 3 dozen reputed quarts, or 6 dozen reputed pint bottles, shall be exported in each package; and if any surplus or sediment remain, it is to be immediately destroyed in the presence of the officer, or the full duties paid upon it.-(3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 57., and Customs Min. 31st of Dec. 1828.) The brands or marks on the casks into which wines or spirits may be racked at the bonded warehouses are to be effaced, and no other brand or mark to be retained thereon than those which were on the casks when originally imported.-(Treasury Order, 20th of June, 1830.)

(The Oporto Wine Company, described anté, p. 741., abolished by a decree dated Lisbon, 30th of May, 1834, has been re-established by the following decree, dated April 7, 1838:

"I, Donna Maria, by the grace of God Queen of Portugal, &c., do hereby make it known to all my subjects, that the general, extraor dinary, and constitutional Cortes have decreed, and I have sanctioned, the following law :

"Art. 1. The General Company for the culture of the vines in Upper Douro, suppressed by the law of the 30th of May, 1834, is again established for the period of twenty years. This company will, however, merely have the right of proving and lotting the wines of Upper Douro, marking the casks, and issuing transit permits, according to the laws of May 17 and December 20, 1822, modified by the resolutions of December 6, 1824, and November 11, 1825, by which the mode of proving the wines was prescribed.

"Art. 2. Such wines only as shall have been approved of and furnished with a permit by the company, will be allowed to be exported over the bar of Oporto.

"The wine at present in store at Oporto, Villa Nova da Gaia, and in the Douro, shall be manifested immediately after the publication of this law; and, if previously qualified, may be exported over the bar of Oporto, either with or without a permit.

"Art. 3. As a compensation for the expenses to which the company will be put in proving and lotting the wines, branding casks, and issuing permits, they shall be entitled to levy 400 reis upon each pipe of wine receiving a permit. This sum of 400 reis shall be deducted from the amount of duties payable for consumption or exportation; and the company shall be obliged to render an annual account of the receipts and expenses to government, and to hand over the balance if there should be any.

"Art. 4. The company may promote the augmentation of its stock by means of shares, for which purpose the necessary authorisation is to be applied for to government, to whom the company shall also propose whatever else may be necessary for the execution of this

law.

"Art. 5. All legislation to the contrary is hereby revoked.

"THE QUEEN.

"ANTONIO FERNANDES COILHO.

"Palace of Necessidades, April 7, 1838."

Wine, Survey of Permits, &c.-The 5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 39. exempts the dealers in and retailers of wine, not being dealers in or retailers of spirits, from the obligation to allow their premises to be entered, and their stocks and premises to be surveyed by the officers. It also enacts that a permit shall no longer be necessary for the removal of wine. Licences may be granted by the commissioners of excise to sell wine in theatres, &c.-Sup.)

WOAD (Ger. Waid; Du. Weede; Fr. Pastel, Guéde, Vouéde; It. Guadone, Guado, Glastro; Sp. Pastel, 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. La, Laa; 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 which 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 finest 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 dyed 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 gray faces and legs. In all such sheep there is a tendency to grow gray wool on some part of the body, or to produce some gray 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 gray 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 gray 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 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 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 has taken place in the quality of British wool, particularly during the last 30 years. The great object of the agriculturist has been to increase the weight of the carcase and the quality of the wool; and it seems very difficult, if not quite impossible, to accomplish this without injuring the fineness of the fleece. Mr. Cully says, that the Herefordshire sheep that produce the finest wool are kept lean, and yield 1 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 34 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 now produced cannot, owing to the greater weight of the fleece, be estimated at less than 463,169 packs; being an increase of 20 per cent. ! 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 of short woolled ditto

4,153,308 14,854,299

19,007,607

4,221,748

211,087 1,180,413

59,020

1,400,560

Carrion of ditto

Total number of sheep and lambs

70,028

26,148,463

7,140,856

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, in the place 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.