Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-02-17
Sheep Jnterest.
VERMONT AND THE WOOL BUSI-
NESS

publican under date of Jan. 20:
"The Chicago Tribune, in a recent is
sue, copies an article from your paper on
vermont and the Wool Tariff in which
you say, 'One would think that
Vermont was the center and circumfer-
ence of the wool-growing industry of the
country, and that the wool tariff was alb
soutely essential to its existence Now
while | own neither a sheep-ranch nor a
wooden mill, and personally could get
more pleasure out of one blooded horse
than all the sheep that ever bleated, yet
must confess that from what | have
seen of the West and of the South during
the past 30 years, Vermont, which cuts so
small q figure in the area of the United
States and in the number of her sheep,
has proved herself to be the center and
circumference of the wool-growing in
dustry of the country.
''When the Spanish Merino was brought
to this country at the beginning of this
century, the best rams shearcd only or
10 pounds of unwashed wool. Now we
have the record of single fleeces weigh
ing over 80 pounds and yielding to 10
pounds of secured wool. There is no
record in history of so great improve
ment in any domestic animal during the
same length of time. The staple has
been improved in quality as much as in
weight, yielding large percentage of
nd For a
masses of America, it is the strongest
and warmest wool in the world. Vermont
has been the home of these high-bred
flocks and it is the skill and patience of
her breeders chiefly that have made the
American Merino the highest bred and by
far the most valuable sheep in the world,
and there is no other single breed of do
nestle animals that we could so lily aft
ord to lose If our wooden mills should
burn up we could rebuild them, but if
our thoroughbred focks, the outgrowth
Of centuries of careful breeding, were
destroyed, how shall we replace them?
"You speak of the decrease in the num-
bers of sheep in Vermont as proof that
protection does not protect them. No
doubt the farmers who have raised sheep
for wool alone have suffered somewhat
from Western competition, but their loss
is offset by Western gain. The nation
gained only 100000 sheep during the 10
years of low duties before the war, while
during the following % years of protec-
ton. our flocks increased from 22.000, 900
to 50,000,000 or l5-fold faster. But mere
numbers count nothing beside quality
A single high-bred Vermont sheep is
worth more to the nation than thou
sand of the degenerate, hairy mongrels
that grazcd our plains before the war.
and the wool industry of the vast grazing
area west of the Mississippi would have
been scarcely worthy of mention had not
our focks been renovated and maintained
by the high-bred stock of the older
States. The average per fleece in 1860
was only Ii pounds in California, and
less than pounds in Texas, while the
average for the United States was only
2.7 pounds, showing a net gain of only
.27 pounds, a little over of pound for
10 years. In 1884, after 25 years of high
er duties, the average for the nation had
risen from 81 pounds to 90 pounds, a
net gain of % pounds per fleece, so that
a single sheep then sheared as much, on
an average, as did four prior to the war
This is the one great, overshadowing fact
nf Oh h,e 81,
present prices of wool, this gain in yield
represents an annual income of over
$2S,000,000.
"There is no doubt but that the largest
portion of this great sum, which proba-
bly, exceeds the total net profits of all the
wooden mills of the country, should be
credited to Vermont, for she has furnish
ed the most of the foundation stock for
the many fiocks of thoroughbreds in the
great central States, besides sending out
thousands of blooded rams to improve
our common sheep in every portion of
the West. Hundreds of these rams of
royal blood are now sent to Australia,
South America and Germany, to improve
the highest bred flocks to be found in any
land outside our own.
"Iou further state that Vermont wool
brought 80 cents under our lowest tariff
from 1857 to 1860, and now commands
only 40 cents under higher duty, i'm
plying that protection has failed to pro-
tect the price of wool. But just the re-
verse has been true in the Northwest.
Before the war our farmers often sold
feece-washed wool at % cents, and
know of sales at Is cents in 1857. We
had few wooden factories, and our farm
ers were at the mercy of the middlemen,
who paid as much for the poorest as for
the best wool. There was no encourage
ment to improve our flocks. But, ever
since the war, which brought rapid in
crease in our wooden mills, there has been
a marked change for the better, both in