Gloucester and Somerset. When, therefore, the far greater part of the clothiers ceased from carrying wool for spinning to that district, the spinners were thrown out of employ, and no previous measure having been taken, no adequate substitute could be found for the loss sustained by them.

Their situation at that time was truly distressing to the feelings of humanity;-and the warmest advocate for the introduction of machinery, if not absolutely destitute of all kind of commisseration for the sufferings of others, could not but be anxiously desirous of devising means for their being employed.

This, in all human probability, must have been the necessary consequence eventually, had not spinning by machinery, on the improved machines (as in fact the spinning turn, strictly speaking, must be considered as a machine), as well as scribbling and carding wool by different and more expeditious modes, been introduced into that county.

Though it would be easy to point out the beneficial consequences necessarily following the application of machinery in other branches, these observations will be confined more immediately to the woollen manufacture.

Respecting the probability of an increase in the annual product of wool, for forming an accurate opinion on the subject, it would be necessary to know the actual excess of the value of the raw material imported from Spain and other parts, within the period that was given in the accounts laid before the House of Commons.

To this must be added its additional value, by the expense incurred of manufacturing it.

If this total amount should not appear to be equal to the increased value of the exports (making proper allowance for the advance in price, as noticed before), in a

certain

certain period, it would afford a pretty decided proof, that our native wool was actually increased in quantity, except it should be supposed our own internal consumption of woollen goods had been diminished *.

Though some allowance must be made for the advance in the price of goods, as before-mentioned, yet perhaps sufficient reliance may be placed on the account delivered to the House of Commons, from the Custom House, to afford general proof, that our native wool must have rather increased in quantity.

In the year 1799, the exports of woollen goods amounted to

£• s. d. 6,876,939 8 3

In the year 1790, they were only 5,190,637 13 6

The account of the imports of foreign wools does not go back farther than 1791, but one year can make no material difference in this general view of the subject.

In the year 1792, the total amount

of the import of Spanish and other

As it is impossible to ascertain the proportion between the finer wools and others of the coarser quality imported, there are no means of making an accurate calculation of the actual value.

*Though the use of Norwich and other woollen stuffs has so much declined, yet there is not the least probable ground to suppose our internal consumption of woollen goods has been lessened. Most assuredly people in general consume more cloths than formerly, and the increased use of carpets, &c. must require an additional quantity of wool.

The

The writer therefore considers it to be fully sufficient to state his opinion, that the original v. lue of the wool, and its increase in the price of manufacturing it, may be taken at about one million two hundred thousand pounds sterling.

The excess of the exports of wool

len goods in 1799, compared with £• S. d. 1791, has been given as

Calculating the value of foreign wool, and the expense of manufacturing it, as stated above

The difference would be

1,686,301 14 9

1,200,000 0 0

£ 486,301 14 9

From the above statement it appears, the surplus of exported woollen goods in 1799, after deducting the value of foreign wool imported, and its additional amount by manufacturing, over and above what it was in 1791, amounted to not much short of five hundred thousand pounds.

If the premises are well-founded, the inference is incontrovertible, that though the import of foreign wool was so much increased from 1791 to 1799, yet the export of goods from our own native growth of wool greatly increased also.

Improvement in the Manufacture of Hemp and Flax.

By a report made to the Lyceum of Arts at Paris, on a new preparation of Hemp and Flax, invented by M. Lebrun, it is stated that he gives these materials an appearance perfectly new and advantageous, and obtains a kind of cotton and silk thread from them. He begins with the tow the moment it leaves the hands of the cultivator; he communicates to it either the soft and adhesive nature of cotton, or a brilliancy resembling that of silk.

It

It may be carded and spun like cotton, and when woven appears perfectly similar to that material; it takes and preserves, in like manner, various colours, of the same degree of solidity, and is capable of assuming a lustre far superior. It is well known that it is difficult to dye thread even an indifferent colour; and that it has as little lustre as solidity. According to M. Le Brun's new method, its fibres appear to be in a new state because they possess new chemical properties.

Thus an indigenous plant, abounding in France, and always low in price, is capable by means of this discovery of being substituted for an exotic material, the cotton of Smyrna, which, though of inferior quality, is always higher in price; so that a proportionate difference must ensue between the value of manufactured cotton goods and those of materials of French production, This advantage will be accompanied with another, say the reporters, we shall be relieved from the apprehension of circumstances making cotton dear and scarce, which has frequently been occasioned in time of war, by the interruption of our communication with those countries which supply us with that article. These important considerations remove every doubt respecting the advantages which the nation will derive from the abundant production of this species of indigenous cotton. This abundance cannot be disputed, since, with the labour of a few individuals, 1000 lbs. of tow may, in 24 hours, be converted into cotton. The reporters therefore considered this preparation of the utmost importance, as the produce of it may be employed for a great variety of purposes. Of this they were convinced by the examination of 28 samples of hemp and flax in skeins, carded and manufactured by M. Lebrun. They observed a piece of cotton-velvet, a piece of shag, dyed six different co

lours;

lours; a piece of striped muslin, and a remnant of white muslin. The whole of these were composed of vegetable matters, and the most rigorous experiments have confirmed the success of the process.

A second preparation likewise affords resources to the industry of the country. In brilliancy and the fineness of its texture it rivals silk. The reporters convinced themselves that this silky appearance cannot be destroyed by the action of leys; they boiled several samples in potash, which is certainly the severest test; it was perfectly harmless, and the brilliancy remained unchanged. From this experiment it appears, that this material will be of extensive utility in the manufacture of a variety of small articles, and, as it is capable of taking different colours, it will be productive of the most advantageous effects. When dyed it assumes the appearance of silk, and yet retains the state of a vegetable substance. This remark is made, because if a portion of any stuff, of which silk composes a part, be burned, a smell of ammoniac is disengaged. The reader might hence be led into an error, or to suppose that this phenomenon had escaped notice; the only result is, that in the manufacture of those stuffs, silk has been employed either for the warp or for the stripes. This preparation will, therefore, be of infinite service to manufacturers, from the variety of ways in which it may be employed, while its price will in many instances cause it to be preferred to silk, part of the beauty of which it, at the same time, possesses.

Advantages of deep ploughing for Potatoes.

At Michaelmas, 1802, Mr. Gardiner, of Boldre, near Lymington, took possession of about eighty acres of ara ble land, that had been exhausted by a tenant. Sixty VOL. IV. SECOND SERIES. S.

acres