Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-02-12
SHEEP HUSBANDRY.
Answer to Inquirer From
Michigan.

Michigan.
In answering such letters as the one
published in the REGISTER OF theSth, re-
lating to sheep husbandry in our State,
one must do some estimating or guess
ing. / make this remark TO let others
know that / fully appreciate the imper-
feet nature OF the following answer to
the letter OF Mr.. Reed, Of Michigan, re-
ferred to above.
As to other pamphlets, addresses. &C.,
in regard to West Virginia, in those you
mention YOU have about all that would
be of any benefit. To you some other
addresses, articles, &c. have been pub
lished, but are not collected in a form
that make them OF any value.
There is little pamphlet issued by
some eastern firm, under the suggestive
title of "The Working Mans Paradise, F."
which has some information in regard
TO our State, but not more, probably,
than you have already obtained in those
YOU mention. The said paradise" is
West Virginia. The book was written
nv Edmund Kirke,a well known author
OF several works OF fiction, relating
mostly 10 Southern life. The title OF the
book is suggestive of the opinion some
people take OF West Virginia.
The West Virginia Wool Growers
and Sheep Breeders Association issued
no other addresses than those you have,
although others will likely be sent out
from time to time, and the probability is
that our Legislature will furnish fur
ther information on the points you in
oulre about. II you keep yourself in
correspondence with our State officials,
or myself, YOU will be placed in posses
sion of all the published information in
regard 10 our State that can be obtained
without money and without price.
Good stock sheep are worth at the
present time from 81 to $40. Sheep may
be bought for less prices, but the money
would not be AZ we'll expended as in
buying the better class OF sheep. | saw
last fall, before "wintering" set in, a lot
of 40 grade ewes sell for $40 per head.
They would shear lbs.of washed wool,
such as sold when saw the sheep at
As cents per pound-S3.l5 per head
such sheep bred to the right kind OF a
ram, would each raise lamb, and the
half of these lambs, the ewes, would be
worth as much at year old as their
mothers. ! do not, OF course, refer to
pure bred sheep. Such are worth all
the way from $40 to $1,000. Just last
week Mr.. Cockayne, few miles from
Wheeling, sold several ewes for 500
each, and was offered $1,000 for ram.
Good land in the Panhandle, and
some other counties, is worth from Sl5
to SIS per acre, although many OF the
celebrated sheep farms could not be
bought for 500 per acre. Land near
the towns and villages is OF course high
err, but is not adapted to sheep raising
on account Of dogs.
Some "good" land, / am told, can he
purchased for twenty-five cents pei
acre. away from roads, rivers and rail-
roads, and from that up to $500. Some
of the trough" land in our State-as
YOU western folks would term it's OF
course worthless for farming and even
grazing purposes, while some OF it is
very productive, and is superior for
grazing purposes to any western land.
Grasses OF superior quality spring up
"A soon as the sunlight gets an opening
through the finest forests OF the world,
but which will not pay the present
generation to preserve.
The meadow lands in some OF oul
yallies produce marvellous quantities Of
hay. the best in the world for wintering
stock, while the hills and glades grow
pastures for summer grazing. These
lands, both the valley and the hillside,
are the cheapest land in the union
This is my opinion, taking quality into
consideration, and prices range as
above given. The address OF parties
who are interested in the sale OF lands
could be given you, they would give
YOU prices bat might rose'color their
descriptions.
Your ideas in regard to the kind o.
sheep to be used are correct, by grade
sheep in the Panhandle are meant
pnre blood Spanish Merino bred or
Saxony, Selisiar or Spanish stock
whose pedigree has been lost in OBJ
scurity. but no mixture OF any English
or other coarse" wooded brCed, as We
term them here. In other parts OF the
State, grade sheep are generally coarse
wooded stock, these can be bought fol
less figures than l have given above
II further information is desired IN re-
gard 10 these latter sheep, 1t can be
given again.
In some sections farms can be rented
or leased for a certain length OF time
In this section, the rent paid will buy
a farm in some other section, and yet
there might be the most money IN rent
ing, until lone would better know what
he wanted. 8,
Land is fenced here, no "herders
are kept, in the meaning OF the term,
as used out west. Some OF the largest
wool growers and sheep breeders have
shepherds, but the most OF them give
personal attention to their 1ocks, IN
all their details OF raising lambs, shear
ing, sailing, etc.
With these few remarks l leave the
floor at present. As the boys say IN
our rural debating clubs, only remark.
ing that the soil, the pssturage, and
NAV say, the climate OF our State are SC
varied, that in a short communication
lise this. it is impossible to give but
general idea OF some parts of our State
You learn but little of its character, in
crossing the State over the B. & y. K. K
from Benwood to Baltimore, you see
some OF the toughest, and but lite, II
any of the best. While we have q
soil in some parts OF the State, equal "a
any in the west, We have no prairie lane
in West Virginia,
Yours, ]. ID. W.