223 RURAL MICIIIGAN 



place relating to problems connected with improving 

 live-stock, protection from disease, market conditions, 

 and the like. 



SHEEP 



The number of sheep in Michigan in 1878 is given 

 at 1,670,790, producing 8,666,467 pounds of wool, 

 an average of 5.19 pounds a head. By 1884 the num- 

 ber had increased to 2,453,897, yielding 13,827,542 

 pounds of wool. Thence the number declined and 

 reached 1,260,295 in 1897-8, producing 8,207,594 

 pounds of wool. In the latter year, however, the 

 amount of wool to a head of sheep was 6.51 pounds, 

 indicating, with the similarly increased output of 

 the year immediately preceding, an improvement of 

 the wool-producing types of sheep in the period.^ 

 In the years Just given, the counties showing the 

 largest number of sheep in the order named were 

 Washtenaw, Eaton, Jackson, Calhoun, Lenawee, 

 Ingham, Branch, Livingston, Oakland and Hills- 

 dale.^ Washtenaw's quota was then 79,059, while 

 Hillsdale possessed 46,519 sheep, representing the 

 extremes of the ten counties mentioned. Not only 

 did Washtenaw County excel in the number of sheep, 

 its yield of wool to a head (7.79) was in excess of 

 the State's average. Several counties showed a still 

 larger average product but the total number of 

 sheep was small. It will be noted that the counties 

 excelling in the number of sheep owned were all 



'"Kept. :\Iicli. Bd. Agr.," 1900, 202. 

 UbicL, 204. 



