178 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Art's, and Letters. 
Wool , bales , receipts. 
1860. 
48,974 
65,900 
90,603 
112.631 
157,262 
180,750 
1866 . 
177,346 
196,131 
236,970 
216,320 
185,015 
1861. 
1867 . 
1862... 
1868 ... 
1863. 
1869 . 
1864. 
’ 1870 .. 
1865. 
These figures, however, give an idea of the gain of the wool 
industry during the decade. Though profits were probably 
small for some time after the war, the trade was too firmly 
established to he permanently injured. It is probably fortunate 
for the economic progress of the state that the wool industry in 
large measure took the place of the manufacture of cotton, since 
the soil of ISTew England is by nature adapted to the raising of 
sheep, whereas cotton has to be transported from a great dis¬ 
tance. 
The industry which had been the most important in the state 
before the war was the one to suffer most between 1861 and 
1865. The cutting-off of the supply of raw material from the 
South was, of course, the chief cause for the decline in cotton 
manufacture. The number of bales received in Boston in 1860 
was 381,966. In 1864 it was 77,890, 52 a decrease of nearly 
400 per cent. But little over half as many yards of cloth were 
manufactured in 1865 as in 1855. 53 The Southern market 
speedily revived after the war, however. The newspapers tell 
us in July 18 6 “There is not a spindle or loom in the country 
that would not be put in motion if skilled labor could be had for 
that purpose.” 54 In 1869, however, many manufacturers had 
to stop their mills on account of the depressed state of the 
trade; 55 and in 1870, though business was more satisfactory 
than it had been the year before, profits were not large, 56 while 
the number of bales received in Boston was not nearly as large 
52 Reports Boston Board of Trade, 1860_1870. 
53 De Witt, Statistical Information, etc., 1855; Warner, Ibid, 1865. 
54 Voice, July 26, 1865, quoting from the Newburyport Herald; see 
also Voice, Oct. 1, Oct. 6, Nov. 25, 1865, for other notices relative to 
the revival of this branch of manufacture. 
55 Report Boston Board of Trade, 1870, p. 127. 
56 Ibid, 1871, p. 139. 
