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i8 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. The exhibits of wool from Germany and Austria were limited to that variety of the Merino fleece commonly known as Silesian, but more properly called Electoral, from the Elector of Saxony, the country in which this wool was first produced. Some beautiful specimens of the Electoral fleeces were exhibited from Germany and Hungary, the latter grown by Hungarian nobles. They illustrated all the charac teristic features of the “ noble” wool, as it is sometimes called in Germany. The fibres of these wools, according to Mall, measure from 1.4 to 1.8 of a centime of a millimetre in diameter; a centime of a millimetre being equal to -j-jrVir an inch. Nathusius-Konigs- born, in Das Woolhaar das Schaf, makes the average measure of 10 hairs 1.79 centimes, 1418 to an inch. Among these hairs one hair measured 1 centime, equal to 2540 to an inch. According to the same author, 18 hairs of a very high-blood ewe average 1.53 centimes, or 1661 to an inch. The finest single hair measured 1.17 centimes, equal to 2164 to an inch. The finest Silesian ram averaged 1.54 cen times. Dr. George May, in Das Schaf, Breslau, 1868, in a table of measurements of 55 different kinds of wool, gives the finest, that of a Silesian super-elector, the very highest Electoral wool, as averaging 0.13 millimetres, equal to 1954 hairs to an inch. The length of these wools rarely surpasses 4 centimetres, and the weight of the average of many flocks’ fleeces is scarcely over 1 y 2 pounds. They are used at present only for the fabrication of the most precious of woolen goods, imitation Cashmere shawls, extra fine broadcloths, etc. The thick felts, now made in this country for the hammers on the keys of pianos, are made solely of this wool imported from Silesia. It is admitted that this branch of wool-production is everywhere dimin ishing. Saxony, the cradle of the race, has scarcely any of the Electoral sheep. Silesia still possesses a considerable number, while others are found in Moravia, Hungary, Prussia, and Poland, which produce all the superfine wools used in Europe. The whole pro duction of the superfine wools of these countries in 1866 is stated by a competent authority as follows: Hungary 560,000 kil. Bohemia .......... 110,000 Moravia 5 5,000 Silesia 85,000 Total 810,000 This small production is due to the small weight of the fleeces, the great care which the animals require, prices disproportionate to the