EAST or THE MISSISSIPPI EIVER. G17 



of 140 Merinos, averaging 6| pounds eacli. In the same year S. B. Pal- 

 mer, of Norvell, sheared 8 rams and 15 ewes, whose combined fleeces 

 weighed 191 pounds 14 ounces, an average of a trifle over 7 pounds 6 

 oimces. The same flock clipped an average of 6f pounds in 1859, and 

 7^ pounds in 1860. 



The United States census of 1860 gave Michigan 1,271,743 sheep and 

 3,960,888 pounds of wool. Of this wool about one-third graded as high 

 as three-quarters and full-blood Merino; one-third, or a trifle more, 

 from quarter grade to half Merino; and a little less than one-third 

 coarse wool. For a few years the coarse- wooled sheep had been in- 

 creasing in greater proportion than the fine wooled ones. The time 

 had come when it was found as profitable, and in many localities more 

 so, to raise mutton and wool than it was to raise wool exclusively. In 

 1858 fine wool sold at 35 cents and coarse at 40, and the farmer found 

 that his coarse- wooled sheep paid him 50 to 55 cents more than his flne- 

 wooled ones. Fine wool went up to 47 cents in 1859, and coarse fell to 

 38, and yet the coarse-wooled sheep paid better by 13 to 15 cents, and 

 had the advantage of giving nearly one lamb for every ewe. Besides 

 this the eastern markets were calling for mutton, and thousands of low 

 grades were shipped to meet the demand. At Ann Arbor alone, in 

 1857, one thousand six hundred were shipped to New Jersey, 2,700 were 

 shipped in 1858, and 2,000 in 1859. This business paid better than 

 wool-growing, and, in consequence, some fine-wool flocks were neg- 

 lected or crossed with coarse-wooled sheep. Yet less of this was done 

 in Michigan than in most other States. There was also a movement in 

 another direction. Wool- growing was increasing beyond the Missis- 

 sippi and in Texas with great rapidity, and thousands of Spanish ewes 

 found their way from Michigan westward. 



The wool industry, however, was not suffered to be much depressed. 

 Breeders went on improving their sheep and growers culled their 

 flocks and reached for a higher standard. For some years prior to 1860 

 four varieties of the Merino were depended upon for fine wool ; the 

 Spanish, the Saxon, the French, and, later, the Silesian. It was con- 

 sidered beneficial to cross the flocks of Spanish, or rather of grade 

 Spanish with the larger size and drier wooled French Merino, though 

 this cross did not seem to find favor with many who tried it. But the 

 crossing was not always attended to with the fidelity and judgment 

 required to lay the foundation of a family or a flock which should have 

 the ability to perpetuate certain estimable qualities. Hence, after a 

 few years, the cross ran out, or bred back, with acquired qualities in 

 the fleece and form, which were far from desirable. The Saxons had 

 already been partially discarded, and from 1860 the elimination of the 

 French and Silesian blood was decreed, and the improved Spanish 

 Merino depended upon. Old blood was purified and new blood intro- 

 duced. 



