594 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



time, and the needs of a home market for the wool, is expressed in a< 

 report of the Illinois Board of Agriculture for 18G4 : 



If there be any one branch of husbandry in which the State of Illinois should, and 

 as we believe will, become especially prominent, it is the production of sheep and 

 wool. We found this statement not simply on the facts that wool-growing here has 

 been very profitable, that the soil and climate are peculiarly favorable, that the 

 number of sheep and the number of flockmasters have multiplied with great rapidity 

 within a few years; but we add to these another consideration which is clearly seen ] 

 and beginning to be felt with great force woolen manufactures must be largely 

 increased. The necessity exists and the facilities abound. If the wool-growing 

 interest has flourished in the past, when the product was transported 1,000 miles and 

 disposed of at prices in fixing which the wool-grower had very little to say, what 

 may we not reasonably expect when it shall have become the basis for a profitable 

 manufacture at our own door? Already capitalists, and even the farmers themselves 

 by associated effort, are moving in this direction. The early future will witness 

 changes of great magnitude and significance. In our judgment there is no more or* 

 greater necessity for our continued dependence upon Europe or New England or any 

 region beyond the borders of this State for woolen fabrics, except possibly those of the 

 very finest texture and material, than upon Pennsylvania for coal, or Lake Champlain 

 for ice ; and when the country shall reenter upon the paths of peaceful progress. 

 capita], industry, and enterprise be left free to select their own fields of operation 

 and development, we may look with great confidence to the establishment of woolen 

 manufacture upon a broad and permanent foundation, to assume in time proportions 

 commensurate in some good degree with the facilities available and the market to 

 be supplied. It is easy to conceive the action and reaction between sheep husbandry 

 and the manufacture of woolen fabrics when brought so closely together as they 

 must then be, under conditions so favorable to both. While there has been for the 

 past four years a considerable increase in the number of sheep owned in the State, 

 the improvement in quality is even more marked. The great mass of those imported 

 from other States are high-grade Merinos, and such has been the good judgment and 

 enterprise of breeders, very few of the old native stock now remain in their flocks. 

 The fleeces which find their way to Eastern manufacturers are chiefly of the quality 

 known as " delaine wools.-" There are some choice flocks of mutton sheep, Cots- 

 wolds, Leicesters, and Southdowns, held in high favor by many farmers, and popular 

 with the consumers of this healthful meat. That they have not become more numer- 

 ous may, perhaps, be accounted for by the fact that they are not so easily grazed in 

 large flocks on the prairies as the Merino and their grades. 



There were many pure Spanish Merino flocks founded from 1857 to 

 1870 for breeding purposes, but few of them found their way into the 

 books of registry. In the spring of 1857 N. S. Colby, of McHenry, 111., 

 founded a flock by the purchase of 20 ewes from John Estebrooks, Ver- 

 mont, and an Atwood ram bred by George Dike, of Illinois. In the 

 fall of 1859 he purchased 10 ewes bred by Edwin Hammond, of Ver- 

 mont, and a ram also bred by Mr. Hammond. In 1863 he purchased 1 

 ewe of Smith Brothers, Dekalb, 111., and made subsequent additions of 

 Vermont and Illinois rams and ewes bred from the best flocks. 



James F. Parker, of Woodstock, established a flock in 1860 by the 

 purchase of a ram and 20 ewes of N. S. Colby, and added to the pur- 

 chase 20 ewes from the same flock in 1863 and 20 more in 1870. In 

 1867 he purchased of Orin Ellsworth 90 ewes of Atwood and Ham- 

 mond blood. He used several of the best Atwood rams in his flock. 



JolmR. Baker, of Geneva, founded a. flock about 1860 by the purchase of 



