550 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



wool per head was 2J pounds, well washed. There was an increase to 

 3,942,929 sheep in 1850, yielding 10,196,371 pounds of wool. The 

 increase continued until the maximum was reached in 1854, when the 

 number of sheep registered 4,845,189. Various causes have been 

 assigned for the rapid decline that now began. In many sections of 

 the State it was the dogs. In other sections wool was so low that the 

 sheep were slaughtered by the thousands for their pelts and tallow, 

 and breeding was suspended. In Knox County alone 30,000 were 

 slaughtered in one autumn for their tallow and pelts, and the same 

 practice prevailed throughout the State. That wool was low there 

 was no question, for the political and commercial revulsions of Europe 

 in 1847 and 1848, and subsequent depression in manufactures and 

 stringency in money, had thrown immense quantities of woolens upon 

 the American market and crushed the life out of the American manu- 

 facturer. It operated for many years in that direction, and the revival 

 was slow. In 1854 the price of mutton and the growing demand for it 

 led many in the vicinity of cities to cross their common sheep and their 

 Merino ewes with Leicester or Southdown rams for the purpose of 

 obtaining good sized lambs for the butcher. 



But most of the Merino breeders held on to their choice flocks and 

 made improvements upon them. Crosses with the Saxons had been 

 very common from 1835, and in the eastern counties bordering the Ohio 

 Eiver full-blood Saxons could be found in great abundance, and the fine- 

 ness of their wool was not excelled by any other portion of the Union. 

 The farmers of Jefferson, Harrison, Belmont, and other eastern coun- 

 ties realized large fortunes from their extensive flocks of fine-wooled 

 sheep, and they had no trouble in finding a market. For months before 

 the wool was shorn agents for Eastern manufacturers invaded the coun- 

 try to secure the clip. Here, where good wool was raised, the market 

 found the grower; in other sections it was with difficulty that the grower 

 could find a market. In the differences realized lie all the profits. 



The weight of the Ohio Saxons and their yield of wool is given in 

 the result of a shearing of these sheep at the Ohio State fair of 1854 : 



Pounds. 



1 ram 2 years old weighed 95 pounds ; fleece 3i 



1 ewe 2 years old weighed 52 pounds ; fleece 2| 



1 ewe 2 years old weighed 50 pounds ; fleece 3 



1 ewe "2 years old weighed 54 pounds ; fleece 3 



1 ewe 2 years old weighed 55 pounds ; fleece 3 



1 ewe 3 years old weighed 55 pounds ; fleece 3 



H. S. Mannon had 5 Saxons whose gross weight of carcass before 

 being shorn and weight of fleece are thus given: 



Pounds, 



8* 



4 



3 



