Localities and Varieties of the Trade.—When it is considered that woollen and worsted goods differ primarily in the length of fibre, it is easy to imagine that many varieties may be produced, according to the extent to which this separation is carried out. The various modes too in which the warp and weft threads are made to interlace, as explained in WEAVING, naturally lead to the production of many different classes of goods. These four conditions, namely, the length of fibre, the application or not of the felting quality, the production or not of a velvet-like nap or pile, and the diversities depending on the loom, give rise to innumerable and fancifully-named kinds of woollen and worsted goods. Blankets, flannels, stuffs, merinos, mousseline-de laines, bombazines, tammies, shalloons, says, moreens, calimancoea, cam lets, lasting., baize, and a host of other names, some of which are now nearly or quite', out of use, or arc giving way to others, point to the diverse applications of long-wool in the production of woven fabrics ; while kerseymere and other names indicate distinctions in the felted wool goods. But besides these diversities, there are others depending on various circumstances ; such as the admixture of woollen with worsted, or of either of them with cotton or silk, in the same fabric ; the dyeing of the material, sometimes in the piece, sometimes uniformly in the yarn, and sometimes in a party-coloured mode called clouding: and the printing of devices on one surface.
A few examples may suffice to illustrate this diversity. Plain broad cloth is a specimen of plain weaving, followed by the fulling process ; whereas Ivry-amen is a twilled fabric, similarly fulled. A.'erges are twills, having worsted warp and coarse woollen weft. Blankets are made of very soft yarn, afterwards worked up into a kind of pile by milling; and many varieties of coarse cloth are of analogous structure. Ilombazeen is a twilled mixture of worsted and Bilk ; whereas Poplin is an untwilled mixture, showing more silk than worsted at the surface. Sa.ronies and Orleans are made of wool, sometimes mixed with cotton, and afterwards printed. Stuff is made wholly of worsted ; while Merino is a fine woollen twill, sometimes printed. The material called Cashmere, if properly so named, is made of the shawl-goat wool, much in the same way as merino ; but most of the fabrics so called are made of sheep's wool. Challis is a mixture of woollen weft with silk warp, and is generally printed. Mousseline-dedaine was originally all wool, but is now frequently mixed with cotton, and generally printed. Norwich crape, unlike common crape, is composed of wool and silk, something like challis, but without being printed. Crepe de Lyon is formed of worsted and silk ; and Italian net of worsted only. In Waistooatings, fancy-weaving adds another to the sources of diver sity. Many of the above kinds are briefly described under their proper names in this Cycloptedia ; while a number of additional kinds will bo found noticed under SHODDY MANUFACTERK.
The \Vest Riding of Yorkshire, the most important clothing-district in England, exhibits an area of nearly 90 miles by 20 occupied by clothing towns and villages. Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, and Wakefield are the groat manufacturing centres. Mixed or coloured cloths arc mado principally in the villages west of Leeds and of Wakefield ; white or undyed cloths are made chiefly in the villages occupying a belt of country extending from near Wakefield to Shipley. Flannels and baizea are the principal woollen articles made in and near Halifax, together with army cloth. Blankets are made on the line between Leeds and Huddersfield. Bradford provides very largely the 'pun worsted required for the various manufactures. Stuffs are made at Bradford, Halifax, and Leeds ; and narrow cloths at Hudders field. Saddleworth furnishes broad-cloth and kei-seymeres. In the neighbourhood of Batley and Dewsbury are the shoddy mills. The West of England takes rank next to Yorkshire, and formerly took pre cedence of it. The finest kinds of broad-cloth, from Saxony, Australia, and Spanish wool, are made iu Gloucestershire. The manufacture is carried on in a district called the Bottoms, and in other parts of the country ; the town of Stroud being a kind of centre for the whole. Wiltshire produces very fine cloths, at Bradford, Trow bridge, Westbury, Melksham, Chippenham, and the surrounding villages ; while cloth of various kinds is made at Wilton, Warminster, I f eytesbury, and Caine. Taunton, Frome, Tiverton, and the surround ing villages constitute the Somersetshire clothing district. Devonshire and Dorset have little woollen manufacture. The Norfolk district was long the principal seat of the stuff or worsted manufacture. Bomba zcens, crapes, camlets, and shawls have constituted the chief fabrics for which Norfolk lute been celebrated. These are the three great English districts engaged in the consumption of wool ; to which may be added Leicestershire, where nearly all the worsted stockings are made. It must be noted, however, that Yorkshire, with its abundant machinery and cheap coal, is every year absorbing a larger and larger proportion of the whole manufacture. In Wales the principal manufactures relating to wool and worsted are strong webs or high-country cloths, small webs or low-conntry cloths, flannels, stockings, socks, wigs, and gloves ; the chief counties being Montgomery, Mcrioneth, and Denbigh. The strong webs arc used principally for workmen's jackets, ironing 'cloths, &c. ; while the small webs are largely used for slaves' clothing in the West Indies. In Scotland the fine woollen manufacture is upon a very limited scale ; but a good deal is done at Aberdeen, Stirling, Galashiels, Jedburgh, Hawick, Inverness, Kilmarnock, and Paisley, in the produc tion of various kinds of woollen and worsted goods, such as coarse plaiding, clan-tartans, woollen-hose, blankets, flannels, and especially carpets and shawls. The manufactures of woollen and worsted goods in Ireland are small in extent.