EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



599 



At a Sangamon County shearing in 1875 eighty-seven Spanish Meri- 

 nos, mostly pure bred, sheared 841 pounds of wool, unwashed, an aver- 

 age of 9.67 pounds. Ten or twelve were rams, yielding 17 to 19 pounds. 



Notwithstanding the protection held out by the tariff of 1867, wool- 

 growing and sheep husbandry did not increase from 1870 to 1880; in 

 fact, there was a decline of 33 per cent in the number of sheep, being 

 but 1,037,073 in 1880, as against 1,568,286 in 1870. But notwithstand- 

 ing the great falling off in the number of sheep, the wool clip increased 

 from 5,739,249 pounds in 1870 to 6,093,066 pounds in 1880. The con- 

 tinued improvement in the Merino and the heavier fleeces of the long- 

 wnolcd mutton sheep had increased the yield per head to 5.87 pounds, 

 an increase in ten years of 2.21 pounds. 



Of the sheep in 1880 about one-fourth were Merinos and their grades, 

 one half the common sheep so called, one-eighth improved mutton sheep 

 and their grades, and an eighth which it would be difficult to class, 

 being about equally mixed from the forenamed. Within the ten years 

 preceding the English mutton breeds had increased and the others 

 declined. Of the Merinos one-fourth were full-blood, one-fourth three- 

 quarter blood, one-fourth half-blood, and one-fourth less than half- 

 blood. Of the mutton breeds there were the Lincolnshire^, the Cots- 

 wolds, the Southdowns, the Shropshires, and the Leicesters. The 

 weights of the different breeds are given: 



The unwashed fleeces of the Merinos averaged 5 pounds, of the long 

 wools 7 pounds, and of the middle wools 8 pounds. 



There had been from 1875 to 1880 an increasing interest in sheep of 

 the best kind. Every one seemed to want them, and old farmers who 

 never owned a sheep sold their cattle in 1881 and 1882 to purchase 

 them. ]S"ever in the history of the State was there such a demand for 

 sheep of all kinds as in 1882. Some Merinos were purchased for new 

 flocks, but the general tendency was for the various breeds of mutton 

 sheep. From 1880 to 1883 there was a perfect mania in central Illinois 

 for long wool ranis, which, however, subsided in 1884, when they were 

 utterly neglected. 



The number of sheep constantly declined, and the returns for 1884 

 showed less than that of any year since 1862, with the exceptions of 

 the years 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878, and 1879. The decline was due to the 

 low prices of wool and mutton. Mutton was lower in 1883 and 1884 

 than at any time since 1854, with the exceptions of 1858 and 1879. 

 Wool was down to a very low figure, lower than it had been for some 

 years. The amount of wool produced in the State in 1884 was 4,584,935 



