Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-05-01
THE WORLDS SHEEP.
There Are at Least Half a Billion
of Them-Huge FIocks.

of Them-Huge FIocks.
The growth of the sheep industry be-
yond the Mississippi is one of the prodi-
gious features of the great West which
will do everything ON grand scale. Mr..
r. r. Bowker gives the following inter-
esting facts about the sheep population
of the world at large and Of the United
States in particular:
1t is roughly estimated that the world
contains at least half billion sheep
possibly over 600, 900, ,000-producing
about two billion pounds of wool The
worlds crop of wool-can only be guessed,
but it is certain that the humble sheep
contributes at least $500, 900, 900 annually,
In wool, to the wealth of mankind. Our
own wool crop, greatest in 1884, when it
was estimated at 30S, 900, 900 pounds, was
IN 1883 265, O00, 900 pounds. Nearly half
the wool we wear is of foreign growth,
the figures of 1887 being a crop of
269, 600, 600 pounds, an import of 114,-
900, 600 pounds, and a contents of 1885,
900, 900 pounds wool in imported goods.
The variations in the number and geo.
graphical distribution of sheep in the
United States are very noteworthy. Pre-
vious to the war, 1S40-1S60, the census
showed about 10000, 900 sheep, nearly
all east of the Mississippi river; the sheep
in New England, nearly A, 900, 900 in 1910,
were but half this in 1860, and the same
was true in New York, but the new West
more than made up the balance. The
agricultural report for 1883 gave 0,000,-
900 (probably an over estimate), of which
but q, 900, 600 were east of the Missis-
sippi, over 1000, 900 of the balance being
on the Pacific coast. The current report
estimates for 1889 AZ, 5000 sheep, val
ued at 800, $40, 369 The great majority
of sheep raisers in this country even in
the wool state of Ohio, are the farmers
who keep from twenty-five to fifty, or
even hundred head, as a help to the
farm. East of the Mississippi the number
of fiocks reaching a thousand or more is
not large. The sheep is one of the small
farmers best servants. 1t not only pro-
duces wool and mutton, but it keeps his
fields fertile with manure, cleans them
of stubble and weeds, and by causing
vegetation to grow upon the hillside,
counteracts the waste of soil "by which
the farmer feeds the rivers from the heart
of his pocketbook.
In the far West, on the contrary, the
sheep are in huge tiocks, often quartered
on government lands, supplying an eX-
elusive occupation to hundreds of ranch
men. The census of 1880 reported twen-
ty-one sheep ranches in Texas, New Mex
leo and California, aggregating 5000, 900
head, an average of 140, ,0C0 to the ranch.
1t is reckoned in California that two and
half to four acres are required per sheep,
while on the small farms of the east ten
sheep may be fed to the acre of pastur-
age. The California sheep, largely OF
French Merino stock are of unusual size,
known as "rustlers,n - because they must
rustic about for their food. Many of them
are from the flock of w. w. Hollister,
who in 1869, recognizing the adaptable
ity of this new country for sheep grow
ing, returned to Ohio and procured 5000
of the best sheep he could find
of which but third reached the
coast. But the increase was so
rapid that in few years he had over
$50, 900, and sold about 500, 900 worth
of wool year. The long midsummer
drought compels a spring migration up
into the Sierra Nevada mountains, and
one may be sure to see great flocks from
4, 900 to 5000 head making their months
or six weeks ascent to the heights The
great sheep runs become Botany bay
for all sorts and conditions of men
"diggers, "greasers, and college grad
yates together. One fockmaster en-
ployed one year "a bishops son, bank
er an editor, civil engineer and book
keeper" harvesting their ''wild oats"
while the sheep were cropping theirs, for
it is on this plant that the sheep Craze.
Shearing is done twice year, largely by
Indians, who are said to be 'more patient
and gentle than Americans, though they
shear only three sheep while the Ameri-
cans shear five. These travel largely in
clubs or companies, under command of
captain who offer their services at five
or six cents fleece with board, or seven
cents without. The great wheat farms
and vineyards of California gain by hav-
ing sheep turned in to CLEAN and Craze
after the harvest, leaving the fields en-
riched by their manure.