374 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



This system prevailed to a greater extent in the eastern part of the 

 State than in the western. In the latter part the most enterprising 

 wool-growers bred the Saxony and Merino and their crosses, and pro- 

 duced wool varying from 2J to 5 pounds per fleece. But throughout 

 the whole State sheep husbandry was on the decline. Causes other 

 than the tariff were also operating. The great West was being opened 

 up and settled, and many flocks were driven there where land was 

 cheap. The extraordinary profits of dairying and the prospect that 

 they would be continuous displaced the sheep on many a farm. From 

 all causes the number of sheep, which in 1840 was 5,118,777, yielding 

 9,845,295 pounds of wool, and which had increased in 1845 to 0,443,865, 

 yielding 13,864,828 pounds of wool, fell in 1850 to 3,453,241 sheep, yield- 

 ing 10,071,301 pounds of wool, and the decline has continued to the 

 present day. 



In 1850 and following years the Saxon blood was crossed out of many 

 flocks, but it was observed that after the breeders had discontinued the 

 use of Saxon rams they never could get their sheep back to what they 

 were originally before the infusion of the Saxony blood. John D. Pat- 

 terson, of Chautauqua. County, had a flock of 800 pure bloods of Span- 

 ish origin and a few French Merinos. A yearling ram, the first cross 

 of a French Merino on the Spanish, sheared 9J pounds of unwashed 

 wool, and some yearling ewes of the same cross 6 to 9J pounds of fine, 

 clean-washed wool. From this flock the French Merino and its crosses 

 found their way into the adjoining counties and into Pennsylvania, 

 Ohio, and the States still further west. 



Wool-growing was not profitable in 1850, but growers continued the 

 business, hoping for better times and higher prices; many, however, 

 sacrificed their fine-wool flocks for mutton sheep, offering pure-bred 

 Merinos at a very low figure. A flock of 40 rams and 100 ewes, de- 

 scended from the flock of J. N. Blakeslee, wtis offered at $10 for the rams 

 and $5 for the ewes. The average yield of wool per head was 4f 

 pounds. About 1851 prices were better, and the industry partially 

 revived. Spanish Merinos were again sought after, and the French 

 Merino was looked to as promising a large carcass with a heavy fleece 

 of fine wool. Monroe County reported many good, fine-wooled flocks 

 that averaged 4 to 5 pounds of wool ; the cost of production small, as, 

 like cattle, they were fed on what would have been otherwise wasted. 

 Lambs paid all expenses, and the Merino was most profitable both for 

 mutton and wool. In Steuben County nine-tenths of the sheep were 

 Spanish and Saxon Merinos and their grades, yielding 3J pounds of 

 wool per head and consuming annually 300 pounds of hay each. In 

 Seneca County the sheep Avere mostly Merinos, yielding 3J pounds of 

 wool, and there was an improvement in the blood by the introduction of 

 rams from Vermont. In Ontario County the sheep were of almost 

 every grade from the finest Saxony to the coarsest native. 



Of the Spanish Merino there were choice flocks yielding fleeces from 



