WOOL; WOOL TRADE. The term 'wool' is now applied almost exclusively to the fleece of the sheep. The distinction between wool and hair is more easily understood than de scribed. Wool compared with hair is generally softer, more flexible, and more disposed to undergo the felting process, which imparts to it so much value in manufactures. Many the gilder animals, such as the beaver," the racoon, the wild-cat, and the otter, produce both hair and wool, the hair forming the long and conspicuous outer fibres, and the shorter fibres of wool lying hidden beneath. The goats of Angora, or Ancyra, of Tibet, and of Cashmere, yield woolly fibres of great beauty, which are peculiarly suited for the weaving of shawls. For the manufacture of all kinds of woollen fabrici, except these shawls, the wool of the sheep is used. [SHEEP.] In the time of Edward I. a duty was im posed on the exportation of British wool, and in 1337 an act was passed for prohibiting the exportation. From that time down to the reign of Charles I. the exportation of British wool was sometimes prohibited and sometimes allowed under certain restrictions and duties. From 1660 down to 1821 the exportation was strictly prohibited. In the meantime duties, sometimes more, sometimes less, were laid on the importation of foreign wool. At length, in 1821, an act was passed making tbe duty on importation and exportation the same, viz.,
ld. per lb. The duty on exportation was afterwards removed, and in 1841 the duty on the importation of foreign wool ceased al together.
All the finer wools used to he brought from Spain ; but in 1766 the Elector of Saxony im.
poited. into his dominions a few Merino sheep, which have bad a most surprising fluence on the trade of wool. The Saxony Merinos, instead of degenerating, improved upon their Spanish progenitors, and the wool afforded by them has almost driven the Spanish wool out of the English market. But the most remarkable circumstance in the recent history of the wool-trade is the rapid increase in the quantity of wool imported from tralia. This is shown by comparing the tities imported in the three following years 1620 1,838,642 lbs.
1839 10,128,771 „ 1849 35,870,171 „ The quantity imported from various countries in 1819 was as follows :— Australia 35,879,171 lbs.
Spain 127,559 „ Germany 12,750,011 „ Other European Countries 11,432,354 „ South America 6,014,525 „ Cape of Good Hope 5,377,495 „ East Indies 4,182,853 „ All other parts 1,001,679 „ Total.... , . 76,768,647 In 1848 the quantity of wool exported was 4,000,000 lbs.