The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-10-14
farmers department.
Save Your Sheep.


The present high price Of mutton
and of wool should attract the atten-
ton of our agricultural friends and in
duce them to look little to the future.
Mutton CHOPS are now selling at 20 to
rs cents per pound and quarters Of
lamb from two dollars to three dollars
each. Live weight, the price of sheep
rules at from ten to twelve cents for
the unshorn, and at from six to eight
and a half cents for the shorn. For
wool the price rules from eighty to /
lightweight cents for medium and fine
fleece. We confess there are seeming
" strong temptations in these prices
for the farmer to realize on his stock
but only so, with the shorter sighted
as the greater number who thus reason
and act upon their reasoning, the
stronger is the argument and the
greater the prospect OF the future prof
it to those who preserve and increase
their fiocks. High as mutton and wool
are now, the probability is they will be
much higher in The immediate future,
if sheep-killing continues MS Tor the
past year Mt least this is true as re-
CARDS the price of wool, which must
be more than ever relied upon ms a
substitute for cotton, the extremely
low price Of the production and man
ufacture Of which, in the last thirty or
forty years, tended to make wool grow
inc secondary, and, to very consid-
cradle extent, unproduetiye branch of
husbandry.
This rebellion, which has temporari
" increased all prices by cheapening
the currency, has more permanently
destroyed the production of cheap
cotton. Though the war may end to-
morrow, cheap cotton cannot be re-
stored for years, if ever Cheap labor
in the growth and cultivation Of this
great staple, as in the past is probab-
" deranged forever Cotton will be
largely, in the future, the product OF
paid labor and of voluntary labor, and
therefore under no circumstances, can
the cost of the raw material be brought
within anything like former prices.
This great competitor to the sheep
culture and wool-growing is removed,
and long after the application of the
currency to coin, which will level al
prices, this permanent change i'll the rel
lations of the cost Of the production OF
cotton and of wool, will give the latter
an advantage thatit has not before pos
sessed since the invention of the spin
ming jenny, Our agricultural readers
will allow us to press upon their atten
ton the importance of holding on t.
their sheep, the stock of which ha
been already more than decimated,
we are to judge from lessened number
weekly reported at the principal sheel
markets of the country, as compares
with corresponding times in the las
few years
We say grow sheep. Increase Tia
number, give them more attention, an
forget not to cross and steadily iii
prove the breed In too many instar
ces, the farmer, after obtaining goo
flock of sheep has almost left it to i
self He has not taken the pains
keep up his breed, that he has take
with his other cattle. II he has ft
them well, and cared for them in
proper manner, yet he has sold h
lambs year after year, and continue
to breed from his old stock, and thi
too, from degenerated ewes, whi'
practice deteriorates the quality of t
wool, and reduces the quantity.
also reduces the size Of lambs, and $
riously effects their fattening qualiti,
&C., and this would manifest it's
soonest and most seriously in the be
breeds. Much might be said ON Il
subject, which we feel it only necessa
to hint to those who are most intere
ed in taking advantage OF what G
space only allows us opportunity
suggest. Dollar Newspaper.
A Greenbaek Well Invested.