of Sheep and the production of Wool, we not only import a considerable

share of the Woolens in which we are clad, but we also import a

considerable proportion of the Wool wherefrom we manufacture the Woolens

fabricated on our own soil. In other words: while we are a nation of

farmers and herdsmen, we fail to grow so much Wool as is needed to

shield us against the caprices and inclemencies of our diverse but

generally fitful climates.



There is a seeming excuse for this in the fact that extensive regions in

South America and Australia, are devoted to Sheep-growing where animals

are neither housed nor herded, and where they are exclusively fed, at

all seasons, on those native grasses which are the spontaneous products

of the soil. I presume Wool is in those regions produced cheaper than it

can permanently be on any considerable area of our own soil; and yet I

believe that the United States should, and profitably might, grow as

much Wool as is needed for their own large annual consumption. Here are

my reasons:



I. When the predominant interest of British Manufactures constrained the

entire repeal of the duties on imported Wool, whereby Sheep-growing had

previously been protected, the farmers apprehended that they must

abandon that department of their industry; but the event proved this

calculation a mistake. They grow more Sheep and at better profit to-day

than they did when their Wool brought a higher price under the influence

of Protective duties, because the largely increased price of their

Mutton more than makes up to them their loss by the reduced prices of

their Wool. So, while I do not expect that American Wool will ever again

command such high prices as it has done at some periods in the past, I

am confident that the general appreciation in the prices of Meat, which

has occurred within the last ten or fifteen years, and which seems

likely to be enduring, will render Sheep-growing more profitable in the

future than it has been in the past. At all events, while our farmers

are generally obliged to sell their Grain and Meat at prices somewhat

below the range of the British markets, it is hardly conceivable that

they should not afford to grow Wool, for which they receive higher

average prices than the British farmers do, who feed their Sheep on the

produce of lands worth from $300 to $500 (gold) per acre.



II. Interest being relatively high in this country, and Capital with

most farmers deficient, it is a serious objection to cattle-growing that

the farmer must wait three or four years before receiving a return for

his outlay. If he begins poor, with but a few cows and a team, he

naturally wants to rear and keep all his calves for several years in

order to adequately stock his farm, so that little or no income is

meantime realized from his herd; whereas a flock of Sheep yields a

fleece per head each year, though not even a lamb is sold, while its

increase in numbers is far more rapid than that of a herd of cattle.



III. Almost every farmer, at least in the old States, finds some part of

his land infested with bushes and briers, which seem to flourish by

cutting, if he finds time to cut them, and which the ruggedness of his

soil precludes his exterminating by the plow. In every such case, Sheep

are his natural allies--his unpaid police--his vigilant and

thorough-going assistants. Give them an even start in Spring with the

bushes and briers; let their number be sufficient; and they are very

sure to come out ahead in the Fall.



IV. Our farmers in the average are too much confined in Summer and

Autumn to salt meats, and especially to Pork. However excellent in

quality these may be, their exclusive use is neither healthful nor

palatable. With a good flock of Sheep, the most secluded farmer may have

fresh meat every week in haying and harvest-time if he chooses; and he

will find this better for his family, and more satisfactory to his

workmen, than a diet wherefrom fresh meat is excluded.



V. Now, I do not insist that every farmer should grow Sheep, for I know

that many are so situated that they cannot. In stony regions, where

walls are very generally relied on for fences, I am aware that Sheep are

with difficulty kept within bounds; and this is a serious objection. In

the neighborhood of cities and large villages, where Fresh Meat may be

bought from day to day, one valid reason for keeping them has no

application; yet I hold that twice as many of our farmers as now have

flocks ought to have them, and would thereby increase their profits as

well as the comfort of their families.



The most serious obstacle to Sheep husbandry in this country is the

abundance and depredations of dogs. Farmers by tens of thousands have

sold off, or killed off, their flocks, mainly because they could not

otherwise protect themselves against their frequent decimation by

prowling curs, which were not worth the powder required to shoot them.

It seems to me that a farmer thus despoiled is perfectly justifiable in

placing poisoned food where these cut-throats will be apt to find it

while making their next raid on his Sheep. I should have no scruple in

so doing, provided I could guard effectually against the poisoning of

any other than the culprits.



In a well-settled, thrifty region, where ample barns are provided, I

judge that the losses of Sheep by dogs may be reduced to a minimum by

proper precautions. Elsewhere than in wild, new frontier settlements,

every flock of Sheep should have a place of refuge beneath the hay-floor

of a good barn, and be trained to spend every night there, as well as to

seek this shelter against every pelting storm. Even if sent some

distance to pasture, an unbarred lane should connect such pasture with

their fold; and they should be driven home for a few nights, if

necessary, until they had acquired the habit of coming home at

nightfall; and I am assured that Sheep thus lodged will very rarely be

attacked by dogs or wolves.



As yet, our farmers have not generally realized that enhancement of the

value of Mutton, whereby their British rivals have profited so largely.

Their fathers began to breed Sheep when a fleece sold for much more than

a carcase, and when fineness and abundance of Wool were the main

consideration. But such is no longer the fact, at least in the Eastern

and Middle States. To-day, large and long-wooled Sheep of the Cotswold

and similar breeds are grown with far greater profit in this section

than the fine-wooled Merino and Saxony, except where choice specimens of

the latter can be sold at high prices for removal to Texas and the Far

West. The growing of these high-priced animals must necessarily be

confined to few hands. The average farmer cannot expect to sell bucks at

$1,000, and even at $5,000, as some have been sold, or at least

reported. He must calculate that his Sheep are to be sold, when sold at

all, at prices ranging from $10 down to $5, if not lower, so that

mechanics and merchants may buy and eat them without absolute ruin; and

he must realize that 100 pounds of Mutton at 10 cents, with 6 pounds of

Wool at 30 cents, amount to more than 60 pounds of Mutton at 8 cents,

and 10 pounds of Wool at 60 cents. Farmers who grow Sheep for Mutton in

this vicinity, and manage to have lambs of good size for sale in June or

July, assure me that their profit on these is greater than on almost

anything else their farms will produce; and they say what they know.



The satisfactory experience of this class may be repeated to-day in the

neighborhood of any considerable city in the Union. Sheep-growing is no

experiment; it is an assured and gratifying success with all who

understand and are fitly placed for its prosecution. Wool may never

again be so high as we have known it, since the Far West and Texas can

grow it very cheaply, while its transportation costs less than five per

cent. of its value, where that of Grain would be 75 per cent.; but

Mutton is a wholesome and generally acceptable meat, whereof the use and

popularity, are daily increasing; so that its market value will

doubtless be greater in the future than it has been in the past. I would

gladly incite the farmers of our country to comprehend this fact, and

act so as to profit by it.



But the new region opened to Sheep-growing by the pioneers of Colorado,

and other Territories, is destined to play a great part in the

satisfaction of our need of Wool. The elevated Plains and Valleys which

enfold and embrace the Rocky Mountains are exceedingly favorable to the

cheap production of Wool. Their pure, dry, bracing atmosphere; the

rarity of their drenching storms; the fact that their soil is seldom or

never sodden with water; and the excellence of their short, thin

grasses, even in Winter, render them admirably adapted to the wants of

the shepherd and his flocks. I do not believe in the wisdom or humanity,

while I admit the possibility, of keeping Sheep without cured fodder on

the Plains or elsewhere; on the contrary, I would have ample and

effective shelter against cold and wet provided for every flock, with

Hay, or Grain, or Roots, or somewhat of each of them, for at least two

months of each year; but, even thus, I judge that fine Wool can be grown

in Colorado or Wyoming far cheaper than in New England or even

Minnesota, and of better quality than in Texas or South America. And I

am grievously mistaken if Sheep husbandry is not about to be developed

on the Plains with a rapidity and success which have no American

precedent.