Class XII.] WOOLLEN CLOTHS—PRINCIPAL SEATS OF MANUFACTURE.

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This kind of cloth 1ms a good sale, and is muchsought after by foreigners, who require the stouter kind offabrics.

The continental methods of producing a permanentface are totally different, much shorter in their processesthan our’s, and performed at a much cheaper rate. Theirmethods are,—the one by rolling the cloth tightly rounda ho] low perforated cylinder, into which the steam isintroduced to produce the desired effect; the other, andmore general one, by folding the cloth and putting itunder very powerful pressure, then allowing steam topenetrate the whole bulk. Both these methods cause ahardness, which is observable in all the continental pro-ductions, and would be more so if applied to stouterfabrics. There are also to be seen, on cloths that havebeen so treated, marks of the folds, which cannot beeffaced by any ordinary means. Several houses in Leeds have tried this plan, but found that the fold-mark andharduess of the fabrics formed obstacles to their sale inthe home market, though not for exportation; conse-quently it has been adopted to meet the competitionabroad.

Considerable attention has been given to the dyeing ofcloth in the different countries: especially the finerfabrics, which are all equally well and permanently dyed.In the middle qualities some are permanently dyed andothers not; this is the case in all countries, and in thelower qualities (with some few exceptions) they are all of acommon dye. This is a circumstance easily accountedfor by the cost of the permanent dye being considerablymorel and from its detracting slightly from the appear-ance and feel of the fabric; facts which must be admittedare great impediments in these competitive times, althoughthere can be no doubt that real and ultimate economymust remain with a permanently dyed article.

We shall now proceed to enumerate the different seatsof manufactures from which this department of theExhibition has been supplied.

The woollen manufactures of the West Riding ofYorkshire, and those of the West of England, were estab-lished in the reign of Edward the Third, in the year1330; and from that period to the present time, the prin-cipal woollen trade of Great Britain has been located inthese two important districts.

Leeds is the most important town in England for theextent and variety of its manufactures in wool, andexhibits here a fair specimen of its productions; but itsprincipal trade is in the middle and lower qualities, ofwhich a large amount are exported.

The borough of Leeds , which, according to the census..of the present year, contains a population of 171,805inhabitants, and the populous small towns and villagesaround it, are occupied, to a large extent, in the manu-facture of woollens. This district has contributed to theExhibition an extensive assortment of woollen cloths infine, middle, and low qualities, cloakings, beavers, mo-hairs, eashmerettes, tweeds, and pilots, which, for appear-ance and cheapness, maintain the high position for whichit has been so long in repute. Lately the manufacture ofdoeskins and cassemieres has been partially and success-fully introduced, and some good specimens of these goodshave been exhibited. The merchants and manufacturersengaged in the woollen trade of this important districtsupply, very extensively, the home, foreign, and colonialmarkets; and adapt the fabrics manufactured to thepeculiar taste of each.

Much attention has, of late, been devoted to perfectingthe woollen manufacture in all its brandies. It is pro-bable that the opportunity afforded to our local manufac-turers of seeing the various productions of other nationsin the Great Exhibition , will materially assist in effectingthis object.

Huddersfield , with its neighbourhood, is the secondplace in importance for the quantity and great variety ofwoollen cloths which it produces. Here, an immenseportion of the fancy trouserings are made, besides broad-cloths; but the productions of this town are principallyfor home consumption, and of the middle and lowerqualities. This town, in 1820, made goods from home-grown wool only, but since that period it has gradually

risen into great importance. The manufacturers of thisneighbourhood exhibit a great variety of fabrics whichfairly represent their products; among these may benoticed a number of double-faced cloths, presenting adifferent colour on each side, which have attracted con-siderable attention; but this idea is evidently taken fromDaniell and Co.’s patent; and although interesting, thesedouble-sided cloths of different colours appear to be moreornamental than generally useful as an article forclothing.

West of England.— Stroud, or Stroudwater, Glouces­ tershire , is so called for the purity of its waters, whichhave been in repute for dyeing scarlets and light dyes forcenturies. This town and neighbourhood, with EbleyEastington, Stonehouse, and Minchinhampton, are thegreat seats of manufacture in the West, principally forhue broad-cloths. They exhibit a great variety, in coloursof the finest character and permanent dye, but few in regardto quality, arising principally from their not preciselycomprehending the exact object of the Exhibition,which they imagined to be for the display of goodsof a pre-eminent character, rather than for variety ofproduction.

Trowbridge , Wiltshire , is the next town and neigh-bourhood of importance in the West, exhibiting princi-pally narrow or trouser goods of the finest quality andpermanent dye.

Chippenham , Melksham, and Bradford, Wilts, alsoexhibit a variety of very choice and fine permanent dye,in black and coloured cloths.

Frouie, Somersetshire , and Twerton, near Bath , exhibitlikewise some beautiful specimens of cloths, beaver, andVenetians.

Scotland . —Galashiels, Aberdeen, Selkirk, Hawick ,and other places exhibit a great variety of fabrics introuser goods, of a beautiful soft character and permanentdye.

Ireland . —Mr. J. Reid, of Dublin , exhibits a goodvariety of frieses, and f-tweeds of considerable merit,particularly deserving of encouragement, as a fair speci-men of the products of that country.

France . —The principal seats of this manufacture inFrance are Sedan and Elbcmtf:—Sedan, of blacks, broads,and narrows. Sedan exhibits a choice and beautiful thinfabric in these articles, all dyed in the piece, but beau-tiful of their kind. Elbceuf shows a great and beautifulvariety of fancy doeskins and cloakings of great taste.Abbeville, Lacviers, and Vire, also contribute a numberof woollen articles of considerable merit.

Belgium. —Venders and its neighbourhood are theprincipal seat of manufactures for woollens in thiscountry. The value of manufactured goods is aboutone million sterling per annum (population 24,000), themarkets for which are the interior of the country, Hol-land, Switzerland , Italy , and America . The manufac-turers of this country exhibit a small quantity, but a niceassortment of very' choice piece-dyed blacks and satincloths of a thin fabric.

Zollverein . —The Zollverein , including Saxony , ex-hibit an immense quantity of woollen goods, from a greatnumber of places and manufactories, chiefly of the middleand lower qualities, though several are of a fine character,all very well manufactured and of considerable merit.The chief market for these goods is America .

Austria.— Brunn is the chief seat of manufacture inthis country. The products exhibited are without anyface, or are of what we should call the “old make;” butthis appears to be the fashion in Vienna : in other respectsthey are of a good character. Reiehenberg, in Bohemia ,also exhibits a variety of middle and lower qualities ofconsiderable merit, dressed after the German plan.

Russia exhibits a small quantity of woollen fabrics ofgood character, prepared after the German plan; and beingof a stout make, they exemplify what the Jury previouslystated of the hardness produced by that method.

Spain has sent a small variety of woollens; some ofthese made of wool from their own sheep, others from thefleece of German sheep, which is much superior—a sin-gular fact, as the Germans formerly imported their sheepfrom Spain .