EstiMaTep WooL Crip or ENGLAND AND WALES 
IN CERTAIN YEARS, 
(millions of Ibs.) 
1908 
1913 
1922 
1923 
1924 
1925 
‘Washed. 
Unwashed. 
il 
} 
Total. 
68 
61 
45 
48 
51 
53 
Of the 53 million Ibs. of wool clipped in 1925; about 2% mitlion 
Ibs. consisted of lamb’s wool. 
In addition to the wool clipped a certain amount of wool is 
obtained from slaughtered sheep and lambs, and the production 
of skin wool in England and Wales, at an estimated average 
weight per head of 3 Ibs., was approximately 15% million Ibs. 
in the twelve months, June, 1924, to May, 1925. 
The decrease in the wool clip as compared with 1908 and 1913 
is of course the necessary consequence of the decline in the sheep 
flocks. The increase in recent years is the result of the recovery 
which has taken place in the number of sheep during those years. 
The proportion of washed wool in the total clip appears to be 
steadily declining; in 1908 about 75 per cent. of the clip was 
washed, in 1913 the proportion was 69 per cent., while by 1925 
it had fallen to 58 per cent. The loss of weight of a fleece in 
washing varies considerably as between breed and breed and 
county and county, but, according to the returns received in 
1925, is on the average about one-sixth of the weight of the 
unwashed fleece. 
If the clip is expressed in terms of unwashed wool on this 
basis, the total output has fallen from 78 million Ibs. in 1908 to 
59 million Ibs. in 1925, a decrease of nearly 25 per cent. ag com- 
pared with a reduction of a little under 20 per cent. in the number 
of sheep. 
The relatively sharper decrease in the wool clip is due in the 
main to the fact that the reduction in the number of sheep as 
compared with 1908 is in the lowland sheep which earry a heavier 
fleece on the average than the hill sheep. The returns, however, 
indicate that there has been a slight reduction in the average 
weight of the fleece in the case of most breeds as compared with 
pre-war years, the decrease being probably accounted for by 
the increased proportion of ewes and the smaller proportion of 
older wethers in the total of sheep of over one year and possibly in 
part to the tendency to a reduction in the size of animals of the 
larger breeds. The variation in the number of sheep washed 
before shearing in the different census years does not allow a