The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-08-04

One New England state, ttnocte Island,
shows an increase, which the Republican at
tributes to the demand for spring lambs at
the Newport hotels. On the other hand,
Maine has lost, in round numbers, 1850,
New Hampshire, 11,6OO, Vermont, 6l,1OO,
Massachusetts, 3,400, and Connecticut, G,000;
III all, more than 1OO,OOO, or ABOUT aIourteenJn
pert.
Oregon there was an immense increase owing
largely to the ''ranche craze" which led
capitalists to form great companies and invest
large amounts in the business; but the tide
is already running in the other direction, loss
es by disease and the severity OF the winters
having depleted the fioeks and discouraged
their owners. 1t is estimated that fifteen per
cent of all the sheep in Texas were lost last
winter, and that the number in all the States
named was 100000 so that we had in =
country last April 100000 less than"
1885. This alone has<b1ep enou~
many of the ranchGen and who's
the low price of the wool is considered, it is
no wonder that so many of them are quitting
in disappointment and disgust. But it seems
to us there is something wrong when State
like Vermont disposes OF $1,000 sheep out OF
$4,000 in five years and does not fill their
places with others. Land is almost as cheap
in Vermont and Hampshire as in Texas at
any rate it can be bought for less than the
fences and buildings upon 1t have cost, ana
with large and constantly growing markets
within easy reach. with man ready 70 buy
every lamb at the barn door as soon as ne Is
big enough for the butchers block, with
mill in every village to work up the heeees,
with liability to loss from disease or storms
it ought to be possible to make sheep pay at
least as well as hogs when pork is six cents,
| or cows when butter sells ct twenty.
There is a class of political economists that
teach us that it is flying in the face Of proyi-
| dence for a man to try and grow WOOL OF
| mutton in the Eastern or Middle States. and
| that whoever attempts it should be starved
| into some other occupation by act OF Congress
| but we read the DEGREES OF providence ditfer-
| emily A sheep is in many respects the pest
| farm animal 1t is the best Tor pastures. III
requires comparatively little labor and care
and it returns dividend every year and
| sometimes two. 1t tiourishes on our hills,
| and the demand for it and its fleece far ex-
| ceeds the supply in our home markets. IL is
no more subject to Western eompetltlon t1an n
| the hog, OK, or horse, or even the cow, ana II
| we can't keep sheep with a fair show ana
| good management, we can't keep anything
on our back farms. \
But something is the matter: what Is ltf
| In the first place, the tariff. A few years ago
| Congress reduced the duty on wool several
cents pound, enough to stimulate the i'm
| pOrtation of millions of pounds, which have
| been thrown upon our markets ana broken
the price, and, as If this was not enough, we
| have had ever since 1881 large party IN
| Congress bent upon putting wool on the free
list and forcing the American producer to sell
on even terms with the owners OF tiockS tnai
| run wild in Australia and South America,
This has got to be corrected before the sheep
business either in New England or Texas
will recover its lost prestige and Importance,
and the farmer who keeps, or who wants to
keep a sheep, nay who believes he has rlghl
to keep sheep if he pleases, ought Z
be butted out of the community by rams Il
he votes this fall for any candidate for Con
gress who cannot be relied upon to vote u
restore the old duty on wool.
Then there should be changes in the char
acter of our sheep, or many of them with
view to meeting the home demand for lamb
The time when wool was the chief object Il
be aimed at in keeping sheep has gone by
for, even with fair prices for wool, an earl
lamb is worth four or five fleeces III tn
and dear and but purely adapted to Shee
can afford to raise lambs for the NewpOr
hotels, certainly those of Vermont, NeN
Hampshire and Maine should be to suppl
the markets of Boston, Worchester, Man
chester, Lowell and our other cities, instea
of leaving them to look to Canada, 1t ma
be that it is impracticable to keep large flock
of sheep as they were formerly Kept in Ne'
England almost entirely for their wool, bu
with fair duty on wool which would saw
: our home markets to our own people, ha
| the farmers in this section might we belivt
keep small hoeks of the coarse-wooled breed
! whose lambs could be sold for enough to pa
the entire cost of keeping, leaving the wo'
: as profit, This implies, Of course, good eal
mad generous feeding, for early fat laml
cannot be secured in any other way
And, finally, there must be devised son
: more effective plan than we now have Il
keeping vicious dogs out of our sheep pa
ureS, or of making their owners pay the dan
age they do With these conditions con
piled with, we do not believe raising shee
4 need be lost industry in New Engan
much longer.