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52 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. inch. The yarns for filling were spun in such fineness that they attained 46,500 yards in length to the pound, the warps reaching 34,500 yards. Among the uses of these fine flannels is their applica* tion for lining coffins and for burial shrouds. It is known that the wealthy classes in England, in the last century, rebelled against a law requiring all persons to be buried in flannels. Improvements in manufacture have caused a fabric, which was then obnoxious from its coarseness, to be now specially adapted for burial habiliments, through its softness and fineness. Another variety of flannel, which has wholly replaced the French fabric formerly largely imported, is the fancy flannel still called French plaid. The fabrics of this variety consist of plaids, or broken plaids and checks, and are dyed in the wool. The great bulk consists in two colors combined, scarlet and white and blue and white. They are largely used for shirts and children’s garments. The printed flannels for children, formerly in use, have almost wholly disappeared. CLASS 237.—Blankets, Robes, and Shawls. The last observation made under the preceding class also applies to the first article in this class. The American medium or grade merino wools are no less fitted for flannels than for blankets. They compose the raw material of the great bulk of the blankets which enter into our consumption, although noils, from carpet- and combing- wools, are used to some extent. The lowest grades of blankets, composed of shoddy, hair, and the cheapest wool, which are salable abroad, cannot be disposed of here. Even the lowest of our con sumers, the savage Indians,—who are supplied with blankets by our Government, according to the statement of one of our colleagues, who is a member of the Indian Peace Commission,—are skillful judges of the quality of blankets. The standard Indian blankets shown at the Exhibition presented all the requisites of a substantial and useful article. Many mills are exclusively devoted to the production of blankets, principally those of medium qualities for the consumption of the millions. Some Eastern manufacturers, who have made blankets for forty years, have a yearly production exceeding $1,000,000 in value, and one establishment in Minnesota a production of nearly $400,000 annually. The substantial quality of these medium goods, and in some the cleanness of the stock and freedom from grease, were especially noticeable. No wool fabrics at the Exhibition, of our own production, attracted so much admiration from the foreign Judges as the highest grades of £