556 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



compete in the markets with the low priced foreign wools. The demand 

 for coarse army woolens and the introduction of machinery for the man- 

 ufacture of long wools into all the fabrics made from them in England, 

 and the deficiency of these wools in our own markets, caused the prices 

 of them to rule high and encouraged the wool-grower to discard his 

 Merino and adopt the long-wooled as the most profitable sheep. The 

 movement in that direction was emphasized by the action of some 

 prominent members of the Wool- growers 7 Association, who called 

 attention to the fact in 1866 that not more than 1,000,000 pounds of 

 first-class combing wool was annually produced in the United States, 

 while more than 10,000,000 pounds were used, and twice the amount 

 manufactured was imported in the form of worsted goods. There was 

 also suggested the propriety of changing from growing wool to raising 

 mutton, not with the understanding that fine-wool sheep-growing was 

 to be entirely abandoned, but every flockinaster who was properly sit- 

 uated should dispose of some of his fine wools and replace with long- 

 wools or mutton sheep. The suggestion was followed where it was not 

 anticipated. 



In 1865 and 1866 there was scarcely a county in Ohio that could not 

 lay claim to the possession of a $1,000 Merino ram. But wool fell from 

 $1 to 60 cents and so on down to 40 cents in 1867, and a great change 

 came over the sheep husbandry of the State and the whole country. 

 Many Western farmers and wool-growers gave up wool-raising and 

 sent their sheep to be slaughtered for pelts and tallow. In Ohio many 

 slaughtering establishments were put up with a capacity for 20,000 to 

 50,000 sheep, and thousands of good Merinos were sold them at $1 to $2 

 per head that had ready sale twelve months before at ten times the 

 amount. They even sold as low as 60 cents ; their pelts were removed, 

 their carcasses thrown into rendering vats, and the refuse fed to the 

 hogs. The slaughter continued, and during the autumn of 1867 and 

 early winter of 1868 many more thousands were disposed of for their 

 pelts alone and their carcasses thrown to the hogs. Bef erring to this 

 disposition of so many sheep a paper of February, 1869, remarked : 



It seemed at the time a great waste of sheep life, but when we recollect that there 

 was scarcely a single flock with Vermont blood in it that was not at the same time 

 affected with foot-rot, we may be glad to know that there are thousands if not mil- 

 lions less to disseminate this plague. In 1868 the number of sheep in the State was 

 7,688,845, nearly all Merinos of various grades. The great depression in wool and 

 its fabrics still continued, and thousands of sheep went to the rendering establish- 

 ments, and during the year there was a reduction in the number of nearly 20 per 

 cent, and in 1869 of nearly 25 per cent, being 4,928,635 in 1870 against 7,688,845 in 

 1868. Every one seemed ready to abandon sheep. Huge flocks were undergoing 

 depletion and many flock-owners were crossing their Merino ewes by long-wooled 

 rams to engage in growing combing wool instead of the carding and cloth wool. 

 Particularly was this the case in the vicinity of the cities of Cleveland, Toledo, 

 Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati, where Southdowns and Leicesters as well as 

 Cotswolds and their crosses, mostly imported from Canada, were bred more especi- 

 ally for mutton than wool. Still, of the less than 5,000,000 sheep in 1870 the Merinos 



