ENCOURAGING TO WOOL GROWERS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2059, 29 September 1880, Page 3

ENCOURAGING TO WOOL GROWERS.

Australian wool-growers (says the “ Home News”) must be well satisfied at learning that they have now almost the monopoly of the English wool supply. No other nation or country can compete with them. Europe sends us only a thirtieth part of the whole amount, and this, which comes mainly from Saxony and Spain, is a particular kind of fine merino wool. America, with its vast pasture lands and prairies, cannot succeed in raising sheep. The fine crisp grasses, which are the sheep’s favorite food, will not grow in America, where the extremes of heat and cold are fatal to them. Australian grass is far superior, while the general dearth of water does not affect the question, as sheep can do well with a small allowance. But the most favorable soil for sheep is really our own British Isles. Farmers may rave at the fickle and detestable climate, with its capricious downpours of pelting, rain at the most unreasonable time, drowning the wheat crops and ruining the roots ; but there is no doubt that the prevalence of moisture gives us some of the finest grass in the world. The brilliancy of the green turf is always remarkable in England, and never more so than when the country has been drenched with heavy and continuous rain os now. Still, the British Isles, although they may continue to produce the best mutton in the world, will never be able to raise sufficient wool for our demands. How inadequate are our efforts in this direction may be gathered from a comparison of the number of sheep raised here and in Australia, At Homo the proportion is one ebeep for every individual in a population of thirty millions; but there the proportion is twenty-two sheep to one person.