, 1877-03-16
n. wsol PrOa-ss Of the worlI

In the last report Of the Commission
er u Agriculture, We find an elabor-
etc and highly interesting paper on
The Sheep and Wool Of the World"
II i from the pen Of the Department
saatistician, Mr.. J. r. Dodge, who has
bestowed upon the subject . great deal
Of pains-taking labor. We make the
folloWing extracts from IL. which are
Of especial interest 10 the Uool-growers
anil flock masters in this country:
Its suggestive and gratifying fact
that while the value OF our manufac-
lures are about four times as great a. in
1850, the average imports OF woolens
OF the past five years (S25, IgI ,69S) ex.
ceeds but little that Of the entire period
Of s. years, 1871 ,l91 ga, beginning
with the very infancy, of this beneh-
cent industry. II is particularly note
worthy that our imports since 1870 are
less by several millions annually than
for the period between 1850 and 1860,
Notwithstanding the immense increase
in the consumption Of woolen goods.
The, necessities OF the Government
for revenue, and the happy agreement
of producers of wool and makers of
cloth, have conspired to give stability
to custom-legislation for aperiod com
paratively long, and q profit to both
manufacturers and wool growers, and
at the same time lower prices to con-
sumers of wooden goods than could be
possible in the cloth famine resulting
from consumption without production
in the United states. If now the inter
est of mere carriers, who desire larger
profits for handling goods than manu-
facturers expect for making them, are
not again made paramount, the future of
the woolen manufacture will soon be
secure; new triumphs Of invention will
be gained, every variety Of fabric will
be produced in this country, and all
classes will thrive equally, except that
importers OF woolens will fail to real
ize their thousands with greater ease
than the wool grower now obtains his
hard earned dollars.
It is not proposed to enter into de-
tails of wool growing in this country,
to describe its breeds, report the pro-
gress of improvement, or indicate the
probable direction of future efforts of
sheep breeders. It is sufficient here to
say that the American Merino is still
the sheep of the country, with a dis
tinctive character Of its own, and q
higher value for our uses than its most
noted congeners abroad that sheep hus-
bandry is increasing, not east of the
Missouri, butmanifestly in the continen-
tai area of nutritious pasturage beyond,
and that the production of early lambs
and fat mutton, with the increase of the
numbers of easily fattening breeds, is
making slow but sure progress in the
populous and highly cultivated dis
tricts.
In conclusion, will attempt to give
from examination of official records Of
wool production, and from comparison
of experts where no official data are
found, or where such records are sever
al years in arrears, an approximate idea
of the amount of wool produced in the
world, and also the numbers Of sheep
of all kinds that are domesticated and
kept for the production of wool. In
this investigation the incompleteness
and tardiness Of official enumerations,
and the evident lack of public apprecia-
alton of the value Of statistics, is pain
fully apparent; and yet the enumeration
of domestic animals is among the
simplest and most practicable Of all
census work. In the more advanced
and intelligent communities, these rec
ords are nearest complete. The official
returns Of sheep rarely, if ever, exceed
the true numbers; il is often the case
that they underestimate them. It is be-
ieved that in this country the census
aggregates approximate closely the real
numbers, except in Texas, California
and in some border States, in which
large hocks are kept in situations re-
mote from the view of assessors. The
census Of Great Britain is probably
quite accurate, and that of the central
countries of Europe measurably so.
The latest available official publications
of the number of sheep in European
countries, some Of them eight or ten
years. in arrears of the present date,
are given as follows: