Spirit of the times. [volume] (Ironton, Ohio) 1853-1858, 1853-02-08
"A G GRICULTU Raj.
Wool Growing.
lFrom tho "yyool Growcr."l

ken the attention OF farmers as TO enable
!hcm to adopt the most profitable system.
Wo have, therfore, urged upon them,
from time to time, an increase Of their
aocks of sheep. Our own experience
and observation have satisfied US that
there is no kind Of farming that is SO gem
orally profitable as raising sheep and
wool. 1t matters not whether you arc
upon tho bleak mountains Of Vermont
or in tho fertile plains of Texas, upon
the prairics Of the West or tho now soil
tary hills and mountains oI the South
every where and anywhere the sheep will
live and thrive, and, with proper care,
pay more for the labor and capital in
vested than any other animal or any
other system Of farming. II is one ofthe
most useful and economical modes which
have been given us to convert the vcgi'
tation of the farm TO money. Were It
for the first time now presented to u.s.,
wc should consider the sheep one of the
m ost wonderful animals nature has pro.
duccd for the use of man. Its annual
growth of wool, so admirably calculated
for human clothing and use in every
portion of the globe, its skin and flesh,
ana, in many localities, its milk-all
serve for the neccssarics or luxurics Of
man. There is no animal in which there
is so little waste or so little loss. For
at least seven years of its life il will give
an annual fleece each year TO the value
of the carcass, and the yearly increase
will be nearly or quite equal to the cost
of keeping, giving, as general thing, q
profit of cent per cent. Ola the other
animals, the COW comes nearest to the
sheep in the profit it returns to the far.
mer il we'll cared for; it will pay for its.
elf each year by the milk it yields, and
defray also the cost Of keeping,
Is there any branch of farming or any
other kind of legitimate business that
will yield for a series OF years a profit
of 10 per cent? We assume that there
is none. The very idea that profit Of
so per cent. could be realized in any
branch of business would set the whole
capital of the country in motion. Farms
would be sold, merchants would sell of
their stocks, bankers close their banks,
and, indeed, everybody who had money
10 invest would rush into this gold mine.
We aver, without fear of contradiction
in truth, that there is hardly locality
in the whole Union, where any kind Of
farm animals can subsist, that the sheep
if properly attended to, will not give n
net profit on The investment of at least
so per cent, and that, with the ordinary
management Of farms, it will give some
20 TO 40 per cent.
That there is no danger OF OVERRIDING,
the business, VIC have shown repeatedly
in previous numbers. The annual in.
crease Of population in the Union re.
quircs the wool from three millions OF
sheep; so that, 10 clothe the increased
population, would require an annual in.
crease Of sheep equal to four millions.
But when we come to consider that there
is now an annual deficiency of over sew
enty millions Of pounds, there can be no
doubt that wool growing is the most sta
BILE pursuit that can be engaged in. We
cannot glu, the market, nor will there be
any long time that the market will be
depressed below q point Of profitable
production. On the contrary, it is Ger,
tain that no farm product goes less below
this poin; than wool. 1t has long been
source of constant wonder 10 US that
so many farmers in the western States
neglect the sheep for the very prccariou'
business Of growing. Every yea
will give them crop of wool if they dc
but take care Of their sheep. But there
is no certainty for wheat, prepare the
ground ever so we'll. If we have been
rightly informed, the wheat raised in tho
West mas cost the farmer more than ht
has obtained forit in market. Too mucl
dependence has been placed upon thi:
uncertain and expensive crop. Ill
We have tried wheat.growing upor
probably as good wheat farm as car
be found in western New York, and W,
have also tried sheep upon the same farm
and VIC are free to confess that, although
we have good market at our own, door
yet we can raise given amount Of mon
ey quicker and much easier with aocl
Of sheep than with wheat. But we fine
it we'll to raise both sheep and wheat, a
by that means we find we get bette
profit than to be confined to either alone
With us, and in this region, four year
are as long as it proves profitable t
leave land to grass. Very few now re-