

EAST OF THE ^MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



697 



fcrnsus laws and the imperfect execution of those laws prior to 1860; (2) the raising 

 of sheep in many localities in the South for meat alone, and the failure to shear the 

 flocks or account for the wool on the hides; (3) the failure to report the wool sold 

 to "butchers on the sheep to be slaughtered ; (4) the existence of small flocks of from 

 1 to 25 sheep, which in the aggregate number many hundreds of thousands, and yet 

 the wool clip from each flock being so small that the owners use it for domestic pur- 

 poses, or, if they sell, fail to report the amount of the clip.* 



In the following table the official figures as given by the census are 

 adopted, except for 1890, in which case other estimates are adopted. 

 It is believed for reasons above stated that the census figures are on 

 an average 15 per cent below the actual wool product. 



Table showing the crop of wool in each State east of the Mississippi for the years 1840, 1850, 



I860, 1870, 1880, and 1890. 



RECAPITULATION BY GROUPS. 



*Wool and Manufactures of Wool. Treasury Department, 1887. 



