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14 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. the case of medium and good wools, the separation into young wool, first and second combing, first and second clothing, cross-bred lambs,’ pieces, and locks is all that is required, while with superior and faulty wools plentiful skirting is sufficient.” This long abstract of the Wool Inquiry will be excused, as it serves to answer questions directly presented to the observer by the peculiarities of the Australian wool exhibits; while the whole review of the Australian wool industry anticipates many points which would arise in considering the Merino wool-culture of other countries. It is a natural inquiry whether the Australian wools will continue to increase in the accelerating ratio which has been witnessed in recent years. In the last decade the increase in New South Wales has been threefold, the numbers of sheep in 1866 being 8,132,511, while the returns for the year 1875 reached nearly 25,000,000. The Commissioners of this colony declare in their Official Catalogue that if seasons continue propitious, and prices are maintained at anything like the present rates, the probability is very great that another ten years will see New South Wales doubling the number of her sheep, and able to exhibit a return of 40,000,000 or 50,000,000. ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. The country ranking second in importance in the supply of the wools of commerce is the Argentine Republic. The number of sheep, as stated by Dr. Oldendorff, the Chief Commissioner of this Republic at the Exhibition, from a numeration made by himself as Commissioner of her Agricultural Department, is 57,501,200, with an annual yield of 216,000,000 pounds of wool, all of which, as there are only one or two wool-manufacturers, may be said to be destined for export. The details as to the numbers and distribution in the several prov inces of this Republic, as furnished by Dr. Oldendorff, from the census of 1876, are as follows: Number. Value. Buenos Ayres 45,511,358 $72,818,172 Entre Rios 3,000,000 3,600,000 Santiago 1,200,000 960,000 Santa Fe 4,500,000 3,600,000 Corrientes ' . 77,846* 878,000 Cordova 1,405,638 1,060,000 San Luis 1x3.815 170,000 Catamarca 114,420 145,000 * This probably should have been 770,846, as indicated by the value.