A one-page review, reprinted from the Spectator in the Living Age, of William Walton's book urging the naturalization of the Alpaca in the British Isles. The reviewer summarizes Walton's case for the Alpaca over the Llama (better wool, meat and constitution) and the earlier attempts at introduction in Britain. He cautions that the author overrates the meat and underrates the difficulties, but considers the fleece valuable to manufacturers and the experiment worth a larger trial, with pure breeding and careful management.

A review reprinted from the Polytechnic Review in the Living Age of William Walton's book on naturalizing the alpaca in the British Isles. It summarizes the book's contents, including the alpaca's wool and meat, its suitability to British soil and climate, and the benefits for farmers and manufacturers. It quotes passages on the animal's hardiness in snow and storms, and mentions breeders such as Prince Albert and the Earl of Derby. It ends with a letter from G. Stirling about showing an alpaca at the Glasgow Highland show in 1844.

A short 19th-century magazine item on the Thibet (Cashmere) goat and the shawls made from its wool. It reports the introduction of the goat into the United States by Dr. J. B. Davis of South Carolina, and its spread to Tennessee. It also covers shawl prices, the debate over whether genuine Indian shawls are woven in pieces and sewn together, French and Paisley imitations, and wool yields per animal.

A travel-style account, reprinted from Chambers' Journal, of a visit to the French national industrial exposition in Paris. The author walks through the exhibition building and compares French and English manufactures, including ironware, machinery, glass, silver, furniture, pianos, paper, leather and shoes. Textiles get only a short passage near the end, covering lace, silk and gold brocades, carpets, woollens and cotton fabrics, with a note on the cotton manufacturer Richard Lenoir.

A short 1840s notice of a muslin curtain fabric printed in gold by a galvanic process, patented by Messrs. Vallé and Company of Manchester. It presents the process as a cheaper substitute for gold and silver embroidery on window curtains and drapery, and says the gold printing keeps its brilliancy when washed. The piece is credited to the Year-Book of Facts.

A brief news item reporting the first importation of New Zealand wool into England, which sold for 1s. 6d. to 1s. 7d. per pound. It expresses hope that this will start a large wool trade and notes that specimens of fancy and plain wools were generally admired.

A review of a Belgian Ministry of Industry and Labor report on home lace-making, prepared by Dr. Pierre Verhaegen. It summarizes the history of lace, the making of needle lace and bobbin lace, and the main Belgian types (Brussels, Mechlin, Valenciennes, Chantilly, guipure, duchess and others). It then covers working conditions, low pay, the role of middlemen and convents, lace-makers' songs, and proposals for reform.

A two-page economic commentary, reprinted from The Economist, arguing that French protective duties on linen yarn and cloth harmed France. It cites the 1842 duty increases, the fall in British linen and yarn exports to France from 1841 to 1854, and the rise in French flax spindles from 1840 to 1853. It also criticizes the preferential treaty with Belgium and the neglect of agriculture, linking these policies to food shortages and political upheaval under Louis Philippe.

A letter from Harriet Martineau about the Lowell Offering, the periodical written by women workers in the Lowell, Massachusetts cotton mills. She describes her visit to Lowell and the mills at Waltham, the girls' Lyceum, their wages, 70-hour work weeks, boarding houses, dress, savings, and education. She argues that their cultivation of mind and their motives, such as supporting brothers' education or paying off family mortgages, keep them healthy and cheerful in factory labor.

Two reprinted reviews in The Living Age of William Thom's book 'Rhymes and Recollections of a Hand-loom Weaver'. The first, from the Examiner, retells his account of destitution after Dundee's looms fell silent, the death of his daughter Jeanie, his wandering with his family, and his work as a country weaver in Inverury, with several of his Scots poems. The second, from Punch, argues that Scotland should support the living weaver-poet rather than only honor Burns. The pieces concern weaving as a livelihood and its hardships, not weaving technique.

A mid-19th-century magazine article, reprinted in Living Age from Household Words, on the shawl trade and its manufacture. It opens with Bokhara camel-hair shawls, the Eastern shawl tradition, and the universal demand for shawls, then describes the three kinds made at Paisley: woven Asiatic-pattern shawls, tartan shawls and printed shawls. It covers pattern design and painting on point paper, Jacquard and 'lashing' weaving, the 'flowers' of harness cords, cutting, singeing, darning and fringing, the fringe-twisting machine, and block-printing and steaming of printed shawls.

A 1903 magazine article by William T. Palmer describing the annual cycle of mountain sheep-farming in the English Lake District fells of Westmoreland and Cumberland. It covers the changes in sheep breeds and enclosure, sheep dogs and whistle commands, lambing, sheep washing, shearing and sports, mist and snowstorm dangers, rescues of buried sheep, wintering of lambs, and fox-hunting. Weaving is not discussed, and wool appears only as the sheep's fleece.