The Kanzas news., 1858-09-18
Sheep Raising in Kansas.

The more thoughtful among our farmers
are undoubtedly looking ahead to see what
is to become the permanent and paying sta
pie of Kansas.
1t is quite evident that we can never be-
come a corn exporting country. The cost
of transportation is too great, and there are
too extensive corn producing districts to the
east of US. The influx of immigration will
consume much of our surplus for years,
and the demands of the Santa Fe trade, and
the overland Pacific migration viii be large,
constant and increasing, that our home
market for corn will probably be much
better than that of most of the Western
States. Still, the facilities for its produc-
ton are so great that it must soon COM
mand very low price, and become drug
in the market. Nor is it probable that we
can ever make the expectation of wheat
profitable to any very great extent. Tho
should the present years experience IN the
growing of wheat prove to be the rule, as
we presume it will, we could undoubtedly
sell wheat and flour proftably in the ST.
Louis market. Still, for the great grain
marts of the east, we are too distant.
The Chinese sugar cane now bids fair to
become permanent and profitable staple
But it has yet been too much of the char
acter of an experiment to allow us to calcu-
late with any degree of certainty upon it.
| With this state of facts, it Is quite nat
ural that many of our most intelligent farm
ers are discussing the question of turning
their attention to the raising of sheep, and
| the production of wool, as the most reli-
able and profitable enterprise in which they
can engage.
The only question to be settled to deter
mine whether wool can be produced in Kan
sas is, can we produce it at such price
that we can enter the wool markets of the
country and compete with other producers?
We can.
| In no part of the Uuited States can wool
be more cheaply produced than in Kansas,
if, perhaps, We except Texas, and we doubt
whether it can. even there. Our elevated,
dry, rolling country is eminently adapted
10 rearing the best breeds of sheep, es-
pecially for .tfneness of wool, and that is the
main consideration. Our countless acres
of prairie furnish abundant pasturage for
the most extensive focks. Our climate is
mild, yet pure and healthful. And in eli
mate it is that we have the great advantage
over the wool-growers of the East. We
saUe rlnaOSt the entire expense Of aCinter fod-
dering. At the East no farmer can safely
calculate upon foddering less than from three
to FIVE months in the year. We need not
calculate upon more than from one to two
months at the most. Here we have saw
ing in expense amounting to large per
cent. All the elements, therefore, for pro-
ducing fine quality of wool, at cheap
rate, exist in Kansas pre-eminently.
Next as to market; for this is a most i'm
portant consideration. No farm product
will better bear transportation than wool
perhaps none other as well. 1t is imper-
ishable and light compared with its value.
To transfer a dollars worth of wheat TO
New York, the farmer must pay freight on
sixty pounds. To transfer dollars worth
of first quality wool, he will have to pay
freight only on tacO pounds. Consequently,
dollar for dollar, it costs thirty times as
much to export wheat as to export wool.
We have heard one of our most intelli-
gent farmers assert, that in large quantities,
and with the trade well established, wool
could be carried from Kansas to Boston for
cent pound! Say that he puts it too
low, and that it would cost five cents a
pound. At that rate the farmers of Kan
DDS COutO SLtcE luS hOOI IudIhcIo VI IHS
country and successfully compete with
any other locality. The difference in the
cost of production would more than balance
the cost of transportation
There is another consideration, which
does not appear so palpable now as it will a
few years hence, when our lands shall have
become somewhat worn, and that is, sheep
eRr,ch the soil. Grains of all kinds grad
ually and surely impoverish the earth, and
thus create the necessity for manures; but
the more sheep man keeps. the richer his
land becomes.
We throw out these hints to incite our
farmers to thought on this topic; convinc-
ed that upon full consideration of it they
viii with us come to the conclusion that
the production of wool is destined to be-
come one of the most extensive, reliable
and profitable branches of industry in
Kansas.-LawreRce Republican.