In a camel-back fleece laying machine with a laying arm attached to a joint, two endless card web transport belts are guided along this arm, and the bottom end of the laying arm carries a discharge gap, which is moved by an upper carriage transversely to the transport direction of an output conveyor belt in a plane above the output conveyor belt. A laying carriage is guided at a certain height between the output conveyor belt and the upper carriage on a path extending parallel to the upper carriage, and two closely adjacent deflecting rolls are mounted in the upper carriage, over each of which a cover belt is guided. The cover belts form a laying gap at the deflecting rolls, through which gap a card web supplied by the card web transport belts is conducted. The drive of the laying carriage is independent of the drive of the upper carriage, and the path of movement of the upper carriage extends beyond the path of movement of the laying carriage at least at one end.