678 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



tlie farmers paid more attention to horses and mules as live stock, 

 and sheep were neglected. The work was mainly done by negroes, and 

 with the raising of horses and mules in most every part of the State, 

 and cotton, hemp, and tobacco in the middle and western parts, the 

 farmers were content, and few even saw proj»er to raise enough wool 

 to make clothing for the population, and there was a falling off in sheep 

 from 1850 to 1860. The very few who did engage in the business of 

 sheep industry, even on a small scale, became discouraged and dis- 

 heartened by the destruction of their sheep by dogs. 



Almost every family raised dogs ; many of tlie well-to-do farmers owning packs of 

 liouudSj and no negro considered liis outfit complete without one or more worthless 

 curs. Being half-fed in many instances, they naturally sought to provide for them- 

 selves, and the sheep being a remarkahly timid animal, running from the sight of a 

 dog, they fell an easy prey. 



Under such circumstances many abandoned the business. 



The completion of some r.iilroads, connecting with those running to 

 the north and east, gave the industry an impetus in favored sections 

 and the prospect was encouraging, but the war of secession give it a 

 setback. Vast armies marched and countermarched over her fields 

 from 1861 to 1865, and the sheep spared by the dogs were eaten by 

 hungry soldiers. At the close of the war, and after the construction of 

 more railroads in a system that brought the great markets of Ifew 

 York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis and other northern and 

 western cities near the farms of the South, early lambs were readily 

 disposed of, and those who had large fat lambs to sell in May or the 

 early part of June received for them $3.50 to $4.50 apiece, whereas, 

 before this, the farmer considered himself fortunate if he received $1 

 per head. This, and the demand for fat ewes and wethers as well, 

 stimulated the industry, and from 1860 to 1870, notwithstanding the 

 destruction during the war period, there was an increase in the number 

 of sheep from 773,317 to 820,783, but an apparent decrease in the 

 average yield of wool per head. A new impetus was given to sheep 

 husbandry about 1874 and 1875 by the introduction of the improved 

 breeds and the crossing them on the altogether too numerous natives. 

 This increased the yield of wool to 3.83 pounds per head, but the total 

 number of sheep declined from 820,783 in 1870 to 672,789 in 1880, and 

 the decline was due to the activity of the dogs. It was a diificult 

 matter to persuade a farmer who had lost a nice flock of sheep between 

 sundown and sunrise that there was any profit in raising them, or any 

 hope for the industry. 



The dog evil was such a crying one that in 1875 the legislature was 

 compelled to take action, and, greatly to the relief and satisfaction of 

 the sheep raisers, passed a law imposing a special tax on dogs, and the 

 number of these decreased from 214,717 in 1875 to 182,530 in 1876, or a 

 total decrease of 32,187. This gave great encouragement, and many 

 farmers who had hitherto raised sheep and abandoned them, or who 



