Arizona citizen., 1874-04-18
SHEEP AND WOOL.

which it presents the subject and the sub- ject itself is so fraught with interest to Arl- zona that we have not hesitated to repub- fish the article. We invite the careful at tention of our readers to it:
 Landrun, of California, in his valuable treatise entitled "Facts and Figures Rela- tive to the Woodworking interests or Americap shows by statistics that the con sumption of wool is increasing more rapid ly than it's production. the world over, and the facility for producing decreasing every year. This is a pregnant truth, not always recognized, and rarely given In us full weight by our American pubic econo- mists. They must be taught by the mex Orable logic of results.
 Within the past 15 years the wild lands of the globe have in all countries been penetrated by the shepherd and are last being occupied; yet we see no decline m wool. While we have a vast region or country along our projected lines 0f rall- road we'll adapted to sheep and Angora goats we are nearly S0,000,0O0 pounds short of the needed supply of wool for our fac tories, which may be nearly doubled Tn numbers without making 1t necessary to 90 abroad for a market for goods. We have in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah Nevada, Idaho, and Montana, and in portions of Texas and Southern Kansas, an immense territory where sheep VIII live the year round without any 1eeulng, nOLDlnS shearing, trimming, and dOctorlng for scab. And as large proportion of the country named aboundS in minerals, IL furnished a good mutton market, the miners requiring to be supplied With meat.
 We have, in the United States, accord ing to the last Census Report QS71J 32,000,- 900 sheep, yielding 12S,0OO,0OO pounds Of wool, at a cost of S9,7S0,543. In 1872 we paid one third more for the wool abroad, including duties, it costing 41 cents per
 .N T Nnxr NfNr.L a imported woOlen goods in 1871 to the amount of $43, ,751 OPS. According to the average yield of wool, we need 17,00O,000 more sheep. Adding the 32OOODOOwe have, it would take 49,0OOOO0 to supply our own factories; and we may safely add one fourth more to supply the $43,OOO,0OO worth of imported wOOlen goods.
 Why let our grass decay, and send our
 bonds and treasure abroad for supplies?
 The author whom we are quoting makes the assertion, based upon long personal experience in and close study of the pur- suit that there is not a business in Amer ica that enricheS men so rapidly as WOOL growing ln the section of country alluded to. where food costs little or nothing. Cali fOrnia he says, is becoming too denSely populated to afford sufficient accOmOda- tions for sheep; but he does not know Of ten men in the State of any class, rom the most illiterate to the Sclentlhc, who have made wOol-groW1ng thelr entlre Dusl- ' a competence; and he asserts, with truth, that the same cannot be said Of any other business. The fact of man being known
 as wOOl-groWer has generally been suf1l-
 cient guarantee of his financial responsl-
 bility.
 We are asked why wool-growers do not fail as other business men. We answer, simply because the growth of the wool and the increase are perpetual as time. It matters not how dark the night is, the fn
 how hard the wind blows nor how 1t may stOrm-geStatiOn is never longer than l5O days. The lambs will average one half fe- males. (Often twinS), and they breed the next (SecOnd) year, making a double com
 pOund-a continual growth and no loss. Everything that does not go into market goes back to enrich the pasture; and
 though the landlord may be very sick, 1t does not stop the growth of the lambs. Not so with other business. The me chanic or the man who works for a salary has nothing to grow while he sleeps; when his labor ceases his income stops, but his expenses are perpetual; hence he IS grow ! ing poorer more than one half the time. | It is true there are expenses constantly at | tending the sheep or goat business; but | under the most unfavorable circumStan- | ceS, where they can live on the commons
 without being fed, the meat of the wethers | will pay all expenses, without drawing on | the wool or increase Of ewes. Therefore It | is like perpetual stream flowing into a | basin; it is only question of time about | filling 1t to Overt1OWlng.
 And now that we have introduced this
 subject we will add: The Winter just past
 has been very severe on sheep in Califor-
 mia. The almost total want of food in sec
 tions and the coldness of the weather des-
 troyed thousands of head. To such an ex- tent has this gone that we lately saw it
 stated in an exchange that under the most favorable circumstances, the increase for
 a year to come will not more than replace
 the loss of the past Winter. The writer
 was informed during a recent visit to Cali
 fornia that the late losses have convinced sheep men that the only way for the future
 positive safety of stock was to store food | for use.
 While we sympathize with our neighbors | in their misfortunes we cannot help seiz- ing the occasion to point to the superior
 advantages of Arizona in these respects.
 Nature has supplied us with never fail ing granary in the shape of our countless
 acres of grazing lands, and has indeed
 tempered the wind to the shorn lamb in
 the mild and equitable climate of south
 ern Arizona. The dryest season does not
 affect our grasses and sheep need no shell | ter in our coldest Winter.
 With the short cessation from Indian diff
 faculties which we have enjoyed during the
 past year, large numbers of sheep have
 been driven into this part of the Territory,