The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1888-08-31
Sheep on the Farm,

The advocates Of protection weaken
their argument with observing farmers
when they assert that the sheep indus
try must be ruined if wool is not pro
tected by tariff. Every farmer who
has any experience in raising sheep
knows better, Canada is quite sheep
raising country and so are the British
isles, where feed and land are both
higher than in the United States. If
the sheep did not produce a pound of
wool, as meat product the animal
would prove as valuable as beef cattle.
The Farmers Advocate, a Canadian
agricultural paper recently offered a
prize for the best essay on sheep rails.
ing and the writer of the successful
essay produces the following argument,
sustained by practical tests. After dis.
cussing the waste from careless feeding
and imperfect shelter, the question of
manure is then taken up, and the fol.
lowing points are made:
''For farm manure the sheep is sur
passed only by the hen, and rivaled
only by the hog. 1t is much easier to
save the manure from the sheep, less of
of the liquid being lost. Owing to the
dryness Of the solid. most of the liquid
is soaked up and saved, while that from
cattle is lost, or saved only in expensive
tanks or cemented cellars. Sheep
while on grass, scatter their manure
much more evenly, and it is therefore
of much greater value. Thus wherever
sheep are kept the land is found to
continually increase in fertility.
"The amount of labor bestowed on
sheep is much less than that bestowed
on cattle. The labor of watering,
which takes SO much time with large
stock of cattle, is with sheep entirely
done away by simple free access to
running stream. The labor of fencing
is largely curtaiIed. The work Of
cleaning stables is, by daily addition
of straw, confined to some damp days,
and altogether there is great deal less
expensive labor in the raising of sheep
than cattle.
"Another matter which should not
slip our attention is the quick returns
from the sheep. The money invested
in feed during the winter is returned
in wool in the spring, and the return
for summering comes early in the
autumn in the shape of lambs, thus
making a semi-annual return.
"Now, in addition to all this, we
have the wool, which is of the greatest
Importance, Very little food is used
in the production of wool, whereas the
wool by preserving the animal heat
saves vastly more feed than is used in
its production; therefore the wool is
actually produced at no cost whatever"
1t is the almost universal verdict
among our Cecil county farmers, that
we're it not for the dog nuisance sheep
would be the most profitable stock on
the farm. By combined effort among
farmers the dog nuisance could be al
most entirely abated. The County
Commissioners have power it is believed
or if there is doubt on this point
it could be readily removed by spec
ial supplementary law-to raise the
dog tax to two or three dollars head
and require every dog to be furnished
with stamped tag and collar, as is
done in some places, showing that the
tax had been paid. In order to enforce
the law it should be the duty of the
constables of the several districts to
list all dog owners in the county, and
compel the tax to be paid with impris-
onment for refusal if the owner had no
property out of which to realize the
tax. This would rid the county pretty
severely Of worthless dogs.
If farmers will such beneficial re.
suit they can achieve it by an organ.
ization for its achievement.
The report of Department of Agri-
cnlture averages up the crops in