from wool only one inch and a quarter in
length; in fact, any description of wool can
now be turned to use and find a market,
whereas formerly the special value of English
wool lay in its long staple, three to four
inches being the shortest length that could
be combed by hand. Thus have English
woollens thriven and extended in the face of
the cotton trade, against which they were
once protected by special legislation. Spain,
ruined by wretched government, now sends
us only half a million pounds; and Germany,
undersold in the commoner qualities, sends
half her former export, or eleven million
instead of twenty-two million pounds, and
is a purchaser of Australian wool in our
markets.

In the mean time, English sheep, instead
of being extinguished by the foreigner, have
gone on multiplying under our improved
system of agriculture, until they have at least
doubled in number, and increased one-third
in weight of fleece. It is worth while noting
that Peru has given us guano, which, by its
fertilising, stimulating qualities, has
enormously increased the home-breed of sheep,
as well as alpaca wool or hair, the source
of a new manufacture.

Next to Australian wool, the greatest
addition to our textile manufactures has been
made by the introduction of the hair of the
alpaca. We found on the shelves of the
warehouse pieces of goods labelled alpaca, and
real alpaca, in as great variety as to quality
as woollen cloths. The cheaper kinds do not
contain a particle of real alpaca wool, but are
manufactured from Russian and other bright
coloured fleeces mixed with long Leicestershire
wools, into light and serviceable garments
for man and woman. The finer qualities
known in the trade as real alpaca, are
extensively used for the linings of coats instead
of calico or silk, for women's dresses, and for
fashionable summer coats. They are often
equal in beauty to silk, and much more
durable. The consumption for cheap summer
coats (which have superseded the linen
blouse) is something enormous. It is also
largely used in the manufacture of waterproof
garments. There is a curious story connected
with Indian-rubber coats. The late Mr. Charles
Mackintosh introduced waterproof garments,
and under his patent realised a large
fortune from heavy cream-coloured cotton coats
and cloaks, which smelt most vilely, fitted
most awkwardly, and cracked and rustled
most unpleasantly. At his death, the executors
considered the fashion worn out, and
sold off his stock with the idea of abandoning
the manufacture. But very soon some one
hit upon the idea of using first thin calico
with a caoutchouc lining, and afterwards
alpaca cloth, and soon the waterproof or
Mackintosh was brought within the reach of
all classes from the cabman upwards.

In Queen Anne's time, as Pope records,
in the lines beginning "Odious in woollen,"
woollen was protected against cotton, by an
act of parliament which compelled Clarissa to
be buried in a woollen shroud. In our own
time, a political lunatic endowed with some
fortune and powerful lungs, tried to set up a
British wool league against cotton. It died
without a sign. Had he spent an hour in a
woollen factor's warehouse, he would have
found that every day produces new openings
for the use of new material and new
manufactures, and that there is room for the
growth of all wool, flax, and cotton, if left
alone, and that there will be room as long
as half the inhabitants of Europe are clothed
in rags or untanned sheepskins. Before the
South American revolution the country
people wore expensive and uncomfortable
leather suits; now they wear cloth and
cotton garments. There is also a lesson
to be learned by those dilettanti official
or would-be official teachers, who want to
establish trade museums to teach our
manufacturers their business.

Returning by the dark ground-floor, we
took a rapid glance at the linen and canvas
department, of which some kinds very
naturally follow the woollens. Whether the
woollens led to the linens or the linens to the
woollens we did not learn; at any rate, the
arrangement was the result of the tendencies
of the modern system of trade, to concentrate
in the hands of intermediate agents all that
a special class of retailers or contractors are
likely to require. For instance, the trade
in military cloaks up-stairs led naturally
to a stock of military drills for army,
and ducks for naval, trousers down-stairs.
The difference between drill and duck
lies in the texture; drill being smooth-
faced, duck showing the course of the
threads. Both ought to be made of flax.
Then again we saw vast bales of canvas for
tents, a demand entirely created by the war;
others again of varying qualities, beginning
at number one, for ships' sails, all of flax.
There were also specimens of cotton-cloth,
for the small tents of four parts to be borne by
troops in the field, each soldier carrying a
fourth-part, an idea which we have borrowed
from the French army. We can manufacture
the article, however, much better and cheaper
and more quickly than they can. Then, in
hemp, there was hammock-cloth, and
enormous quantities of the sheeting used for packing
up bales. Bed-sheets of every quality
were to be found, the coarser kinds in
immense quantities, as was necessary, since, this
last year, orders have come in for ten
thousand pairs at a time, to be supplied at short
notice. Among the canvas articles was one
light coarse article, which helped us to a
derivation; it is known in the trade as dandy-
canvas, and is used by tailors for inner
unseen linings and paddings of the collars
and breasts of coats. Did this material, so
extensively used when George the Regent
brought padded shapes into fashion, originate