144 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



were compelled to take another plunge and the so- 

 called washing was complete. I have never heard 

 of this mode of washing sheep being practiced any- 

 where else except in Henry County, Iowa. 



After washing the sheep were allowed to run 

 for two or three weeks that the yolk might be re- 

 stored to the wool and pliancy of fibre and addi- 

 tional weight secured. Then they were brought in 

 to one of the farms, shorn, and the wool banked 

 up in the wool room. About eighteen to twenty 

 thousand pounds were in the storage pile and 

 finally sold to a Boston wool merchant for ninety- 

 seven cents per pound. For rams' fleeces, un- 

 washed, one-half was deducted; if washed, one- 

 third, and for pulled wool the same reduction was 

 made. That was certainly a good price for wool, 

 poorly washed as it was. 



I sacked and delivered my share of the wool at 

 one load and banked a little over $1,700. Best of 

 all, perhaps, I sold soon after all my sheep though 

 not before the price had greatly depreciated. I 

 sold because I was afraid that history was about to 

 repeat itself, and it did. I had read in Randall's 

 "Practical Shepherd" that Mr. Livingston 

 once American Minister to France had sold in 

 1810 his unwashed wool from his pure-bred 



