Evening star., 1898-10-29

shepherds are usually Scotchmen, who come
here on fve-year contracts at from So 10
S5' gold month, with the understanding
that they are to hive meat. fuel and
houses free. The meat is mutton the fuel
they cut themselves, and their houses are
little two or three-room shanties scattered
over the farm. They do rot have very hard
work for most of the year. They have %
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 Magellans, and the sheep can Craze in
TERRA del Fuego all the year around
shenrinE Sheep.
Ihey have little harder work at shear
ing time. but here much of the work is
done by professional shearers and the shep-
herds only assist. The shearing time begins
IN January, and on a big sheep station it
lasts for two months. The sheep are not
washed before shearing. The wool is
cleaned after 1t reaches the European m lr-
ket. The price paid the shearers is $3.50
per hundred sheep, at which rate a good
man can make big wages
Nllhlh tne past year .Or so some flockS
In TERRA del Fuego have been sheared by
steam. set of knives or cliDDers like
those used by our BARRIERS for clipping the
halr short, is attached to cord running.
on an overhead pulley and man moves
these clippers over the skin of the sheen
clipping OF the wool. This is said to nuke
the skin. After shearins the feeces are
carefully spread out, being laid one on top
of the other, and SO packed in bales of 800
pounds each. The most of the wool goes
10 the English markets. where it bri
from 8 to % cents a pound All of ;hese
large stations have their managers over
seers and bookkeerers.
Nearly every one has a store where its
men can get their supplies and every sue
cessful sheep station must be managed af-
ter the best business methods. Sheep rails
Ing is by no means all profit. 1t takes mon
ey to make money here as well as else
where. | heard of one farmer who paid
10000 for dip last year. Dip" is the
term used for the fluid in which the sheep
are washed several times a year to free
them from the scabs. The scab is para
site, which spreads so rapidly that it Will
infect a 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 F'uego is all taken up, though l
am told that there is some to be bought in
Argentine Patagonia. Much of the Chilean
lands are held under lease from the gov
eminent, but nearly all is in large tracts,
winch is necessary on account of the thin
ness of the pasture Sheep here are worth
on the average about $3.50 gold a head.
1t Is estimated that the ewes will produce
an increase OF about 40 per cent Of the
flock a year, ana taking the wool and the
ircrease into consideration every sheep in
the flock should net the proprietor about a
dollar year. The number of employees
needed is comparatively small, and this is
being considerably reduced by fencing the
pasture fields with wire. At present il
takes a large capital to go into sheep
raising in this part of the world, and con
sidering everything l should say that the
chances for the ordinary American farmer
or small investor would be hardly worthy
of consideration.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.