536 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Lake and Geauga counties had similar foundations for their fine-wool 

 industry. In the latter, in 1825, Philander Thompson, of Middlefield, 

 began a flock by the purchase of sheep from Stephen Atwood, of Con- 

 necticut, which in 1861 numbered 4 rams and 100 full-blooded ewes; and 

 in the same year, 1825, L. H. Bassett, of the same county, began a flock 

 founded on Vermont stock and the Wells and Dickin son sheep. In 1827 

 P. G. Brown commenced with a small lot of the Wells and Dickinson 

 ewes and a Black-Top ram, and bred in tlie same flock until he crossed 

 with the French Merino, about 1855. In 1830 William and Reuben Munn , 

 of IJfewberry, began flocks from full blooded Ohio and Vermont Spanish 

 Merinos, which in 1862 numbered over 560 head, and had done much to 

 distribute superior sheep throughout this fine wool-growing country. 

 Up to the introduction of Thompson's Atwood Merinos the few sheep 

 that were in the county were descendants from the Wells and Dickin- 

 son flocks. They were kept as pure as possible for some years and pur- 

 chases were made in Beaver, Lawrence, and Washington counties, 

 Pa., and Columbiana and Stark, in Ohio, of the choicest sheep to 

 be had, by which the style of wool was improved by the addition of a 

 most beautiful crimp peculiar to the best fine- wool flocks of western 

 Pennsylvania. 



In Portage County the fine- wool industry was built up on the common 

 ewes of the country. These were purchased as they could be obtained 

 and crossed with the Dickinson sheep and then with the Saxon, and 

 when the tide turned in favor of the Spanish Merino the flocks were 

 generally one-fourth to one-half Ohio Merino and Saxon, the other part 

 of blood being mixed. Vermont rams were used for breeding, carefully 

 selected in regard to health and endurance and in reference to weight 

 and fineness of fleece. The sheep were generally housed in winter and 

 fed all the hay they would eat, with a little grain. They were allowed 

 to run out in small lots during the day, with free access to water, and 

 when well taken care of they improved in build and weight of fleece. 

 The fine wool stock of Summit County came from Washington County, 

 Pa., and from Jeiferson County, Ohio. Vermont Merinos were after- 

 wards introduced, and these grades, in their purity and in their crosses 

 with some of the native blood, formed nearly the entire stock of the 

 county about 1860. Cuyahoga was also a fine- wool growing county at 

 an early day, and among its flocks was one of 50 rams and 75 ewes de- 

 scended from the Montarco importation of Jonathan Allen, of Massachu- 

 setts, in October, 1810. Wool was the principal source of income of the 

 farmers,and so continued until about 1855 to 1860,when the coarse-wooled 

 mutton sheep supplanted many of the fine-wooled flocks. Loraine 

 County Owes its flrst fine-wooled sheep to the neighboring counties, and 

 the renovation of the flocks after the Saxon crosses is due to Joseph 

 W.Worcester, who, in 1847, imported the flrst Connecticut and Vermont 

 Merinos into the county and bred them for many years, making yearly 

 importations. In 1863 nearly all the fine-wooled flocks of the county 



