The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-30

flock has pasture tract about six
miles square allotted to 1t. This is Just
the size Of many of our American town
ships, and If you will imagine a town
ship as one field you will have an idea
of the ordinary Terra del Fuego pas
ture. This, to many Of our farmers,
would seem a large amount Of land for
this number of sheep, but the grass
here is short. and in TERRA del FUego
from two to three acres Of pasture are
required for each sheep. Every flock
has it's own shepherd, who watches the
sheep on horseback. He has a num-
Der Of dogs which he so trains that
they will obey his signs. Most Of the
dogs are Scotch collies, which are very
intelligent, and which understand
their masters almost as we'll as though
they could understand language When
the shepherd makes a motion to the
front they know that they are to GO
ahead, motion to the rear calls them
Rack, and the raising of his hand in the
air brings them to standstill Other
motions send them to the right and
left, and, in fact, they act for him al
most as well as If they were human
beings. The shepherds are usually
Scotchmen, who come here on five-year
contracts at from $25 to $35 gold a
month, with the understanding that
they are to have meat, fuel and houses
cut themselves, and their houses are
little two or three-room shanties scat
tered over the farm. They do not have
very hard work for most of the wear
They have to feed the sheep. This is
not hard, for all the feeding that the
sheep get is from the pasture, for the
grass is always green on the Mageuans,
and the sheep can Craze in TERRA del,
Fuego all the year around
SHEARING SHEEP BY STEAM
They have a little harder work at
shearlng time, but here much OF the
work is done by professional skearers.
and the shepherds only assist The
shearing time begins in January, and
on big sheep station 1t lasts for two
months. The sheep are not washed be-
fore Shearing. The wool is cleaned aft
er it reaches the European market. The
price paid the ShearerS is $3.50 per hum
dred sheep, at which rate a good man
can make big wages
WITHIN the past year or SO some
locks in TERRA del Fuego have been
sheared by steam. A set Of knives or
clippers, like those used by our BARRIERS
for clipping the hair short, is attached
to cord running on an overhead pull
ley, and man moves these clippers
over the skin of the sheep, clipping off
the wool. This is said to make a clean
er and closer job and does not cut the
skin. After ,shearing the f1aeces are
carefully spread out being laid one on
top OF the other and SO packed in bales
OF 500 pounds each. The most of the
wool goes to the English market. where
it brings from 8 to 25 cents a pound.
Ali of these large stations have their
managers, oVerSeerS and bookkeepers
Nearly every one has a store, where
its men can get their supplies, and ev-
cry successful sheep station must be
managed after the best business meth
ods Sheep raising is by no means all
profit 1t takes money to make money
here as well as elsewhere heard Of
one farmer who paid $4,000 for dip
last year. dip" is the term used for
the fluid in which the sheep are wash
ed several times year to free them
which spreads SO rapidly that It will
infect thousand sheep within a few
DAYS.
PROFITS OF SHEEP RAISING.
And with all this does sheep farming
pay? Yes, If you can get the land and
the sheep. But the land about here
and in TERRA del Fuego Is all taken
up, though I am told that there Is
some to be bought in Argentine Pata-
gonia. Much of the Chilean lands are
held under lease from the government.
but nearly all is IN large tracts. which
is necessary on account Of the thinness
Of the pasture. Sheep here are worth
ON the average about $3.50 gold a head
1t is estimated that the ewes will pro-
duce an increase Of about As per cent
OF the flock year, and taking the
wool and the increase into considera-
ton, every sheep in the flock should
| net the proprietor about 81 year.
The number of employees needed is
comparatively small. and this is being
considerably reduced by fencing the
pasture fields with wire. At present it
takes large capital to go into sheep
raising in this part of the world and
considering everything 1 should saw
that the chances for the ordinary
American farmer or small investor
would be hardly worthy of considera-
ton. Frank G. Carpenter.
Globe want ads at reduced rates.
Geo