EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 645 



falling since 1865 from 48 and 57 cents to 40 and 50, then to 38, 35, 

 and in 1868 it fell to 30 and 32 cents. At first the farmer was surprised, 

 then provoked, and finally disgusted to an extent that his first impulse 

 was to sell out or slaughter and quit the business; and to such an 

 extent was this first impulse carried that the clip of 1869 was 40 per 

 cent short of that of 1868, and iu 1870 there were 1,069,282 sheep only, 

 where there had been 2,000,000 in 1868. 



In 1865 there were some Silesian Merinos in the State, and the show 

 of long- wool sheep at the State fair was unparalleled. The mutton 

 sheep were increasing with great rapidity. The demand for coarse 

 wool and the growing consumption of mutton encouraged this increase 

 in the direction of better mutton and better wool. Thorough blood 

 animals were brought from the East, and the finest English blood was 

 grafted on the native or common sheep. The fine-wool sheep were also 

 receiving more attention, and the Wisconsin wool-grower had every 

 reason to believe that he could compete with, if not excel, Vermont and 

 Michigan in breeding fine sheep. Sheep husbandry was admirably 

 suited to the State, its undulating, and in some counties hilly, surface 

 and pure dry atmosphere going far to insure the animal a sound constitu- 

 tion and comparative freedom from various diseases. 



The revival of manufacturing in 1870-'72 stimulated wool-growing, 

 and there was a slow increase in the number of sheep and a marked 

 improvement in them and their wool. The woolen factories, with a 

 capacity to consume over 2,000,000 pounds of wool if run on full time, 

 were shut down part of the time, and in 1871 out of a total wool clip of 

 4,500,000 pounds consumed but a littie more than one-third of it. Of 

 this, 1,500,000 pounds were manufactured into cloth, yarn, etc., and 

 120,000 pounds made into rolls for custom work. 



One of the largest wool-growers of the State at this time was Eli 

 Stin son, of Oshkosh, who sheared in 1872 1,700 Merinos of 7,136 pounds 

 of wool, which he sold at 56 cents per pound. Mr. Stin son for many 

 years previous to this had kept from 1,000 to 2,000 Merinos, and said 

 that for the eight years immediately preceding they had about paid 

 expenses, leaving the manure as profit. He found that on land worth 

 $50 per acre, with sheep at $2.50 and lambs at $2, they would pay ex- 

 penses with 7 per cent interest on the investment, leaving the manure 

 as profit. 



In the ten years from 1870 to 1880 there was but a moderate increase in 

 the number of sheep, rising from 1,069,282 in 1870 to 1,336,807 in 1880. 

 The wool clip, however, increased largely, from 4,090,670 pounds in 1870 

 to 7,016,491 pounds in 1880. While the number of sheep had increased 

 25 per cent the wool clip had increased over 70 per cent. Some of this 

 increase was due to the large number of coarse heavy wooled English 

 sheep introduced into the State during this period, but more was due to 

 the great improvement upon the Merino and its grades. As a rule the 

 Wisconsin breeders did not lay claim to the fact that they raised the 



