696 



SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Table, showing the number of sheep in each State east of the Mississippi for the years 1840, 

 1850, I860, 1870, 1880, and 1890. 



RECAPITULATION BY GEOUPS. 



The following table shows the comparative number of sheep east and 

 west of the Mississippi from 1840 to 3890: 



The most noticeable feature of this table is the fact that the country 

 east of the Mississippi has not held its own, the country west of it 

 more than trebled its number from 1840 to 1850, nearly trebled it from 

 1850 to 18GO, and nearly doubled in each of the two following decades. 



There has been great difficulty in ascertaining the true amount of the wool product 

 of the United States, especially prior to 1860, and even now some of these difficulties 

 still exist, and all estimates are necessarily imperfect. There are several reasons for 

 this state of uncertainty about the wool crop, the principal being (1) the imperfect 



