EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 549 



fine wool sheep of the State. The Saxony, French, and Silesian Merinos 

 have yielded to them. In the northern part oft he State the Vermont- 

 Atwood more generally prevails; in the southeastern the Delaine type, 

 as represented by the Dickinson sheep, and the Black-Top and Delaine 

 flocks of western Pennsylvania. 



The tariff acts of 1824 and 1828 were great incentives to wool-grow- 

 ing in Ohio. These measures, passed at a time when emigration to the 

 State was very large, decided the occupation of many new settlers, who 

 took their flocks with them. For many years the business was a good 

 one, though prices of wool fluctuated. Whenever wool reaches a cer- 

 tain minimum price, the pelt, carcass, and tallow are worth more for 

 slaughtering than the animal is for its fleece; and this condition existed 

 among the Ohio and other western wool- growers in 1842, 1843, 1844, 

 and 1845, and up to 1853. For more than ten years wool was extremely 

 low. Fine Ohio wool that brought in New York markets 70 cents 

 per pound in 1831, 70 cents in 1837, 56 cents in 1839, and 52 cents in 

 1841, fell to 48 cents in 1842, and 35 cents in 1843. In the same period 

 medium wool declined from 60 to 30 cents and coarse wool from 48 to 

 25 cents. The average of fine, medium, and coarse was 30 cents in 

 New York and not to exceed 26 cents on the Ohio farm. With an 

 average of 3 pounds of wool per head the grower realized but 78 cents 

 for his fleece. In 1841 some firms at Cleveland, Ohio, began the manu- 

 facture of oil, tallow, and stearine candles from the carcasses of hogs 

 and cattle, and sheep were used in considerable numbers. In 1845 a 

 firm at Sandusky slaughtered 5,100 sheep, which yielded an average 

 of about 9 pounds of tallow each. The whole carcass was boiled up 

 except the hams. The tallow sold at 6 cents a pound, and the pelts, 

 mostly of wethers, with 3J pounds of wool each, were sold for the East- 

 ern market at $1.15. The same year Mr. Charles Hollister, of Huron, 

 slaughtered 3,800 sheep, averaging about 7J pounds of tallow each. At 

 Cleveland about 50,000 sheep were slaughtered for tallow in 1845, 

 although wool was then worth 33 cents per pound, on an average. The 

 temporary advance in wool for 1845 checked the slaughter of sheep for 

 tallow, but not until many thousands had been so disposed of and their 

 carcasses fed to the hogs, which in turn went through the same process 

 to furnish lard. 



The slaughter of sheep for their tallow was a great blessing to Ohio. 

 Those which were sent to the rendering vat were the culls, wethers, 

 and most worthless sheep of the country, nearly all of them suffering 

 with foot-rot or other diseases. There was a thorough weeding out of 

 flocks and a renovation. At the same time there was a steady increase 

 from the East and from Pennsylvania. New flocks were formed and 

 the number of sheep increased very rapidly. 



The United States census for 1840 reported Ohio as having 2,028,401 

 sheep, yielding 3,685,315 pounds of wool. In 1847 the sheep numbered 

 3,677,171, an increase of over 80 per cent. The average amount of 



