EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 555 



of 20J pounds. Three 2-year-old rams averaged 18 pounds, and 3 

 yearling rams 13 pounds. Spanish ewes at 3 years old gave 15J and 8-J 

 pounds; 2 years old 10, 11, and 12J pounds, and yearlings from 7f to 

 15 pounds, the average of 8 being 10 1 pounds. 



At the Wyandot County exhibition 74 sheep were on the ground, but 

 only 34 were shorn. Four yearling rams, whose average weight was 82 

 pounds, sheared 12J pounds of wool each. Five 2 years old and over, 

 whose average weight was 106 f pounds, sheared 18| pounds each. 

 Ten yearling ewes averaged 58^ pounds of carcass and 10 pounds 3j 

 ounces of wool. Fifteen ewes 2 years old and over averaged 76 pounds 

 to the carcass and 11 pounds 14 J ounces of wool. The general average 

 of the 34 sheep was 76J pounds of carcass and 12 pounds S^ ounces of 

 wool. 



The Geauga County shearing took place May 23. The Merinos receiv- 

 ing the premiums are presented in this table : 



The yearling ewes receiving premiums weighed 48j, 54, and 53 

 pounds and gave fleeces of 7ff, 8ff, and 7f- pounds. The 2-years-old 

 ewes weighed 63 J, 55 J, and 70 J pounds and their fleeces 11, 9, lOf^ 

 pounds. 



Shearings were also held in the counties of Seneca, Portage, Lake, 

 Lucas, Wood, Morrow, Clarke, Media, Warren, Cuyahoga, Huron, 

 Ashtabula, Colurnbiana, Ashland, Trumbull, and Tuscarawas, and all 

 bore witness to a great improvement in the Ohio Merinos. It was 

 observed also that the climate and food of Ohio being different from 

 that of Vermont caused a gradual change in the fleece producing apti- 

 tude of the Merinos brought from Vermont. Less knowledge of the 

 laws of breeding, feeding, and less shelter caused the descendants of 

 the Vermont sheep to fall below the original standard, except in some 

 few cases where the Vermont practice was intelligently and closely 

 followed. 



But a new era had dawned on Ohio sheep husbandry. The number 

 of sheep increased from 1862 to 1868, but their value declined from 

 $3.50 per head in 1865 to $1.90 per head in 1868. There were causes 

 for this in the falling off in the demand for wool after the close of the 

 war, and the substitution of the coarse-wooled mutton sheep for the 

 fine-wooled Merino. This change began in 1862 and 1863. Previous 

 to this the longest and most lustrous combing wool grown in the coun- 

 try was used for the manufacture of carpets, and was compelled to 



