The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-16
NEEDING or BLACK SHEEP.
&c orgIa Growers Gradually Kidding
Their FIocKs of Them.


Their FI6cIss of Them.
In the old nursery rhyme it was;
Baa, Baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool
Yes, sir, yes. sir. three bags fun"
If the black sheep addressed. though
were of Georgia origin, The old jingle will
soon lose its foros entirely. The black
sheep in this state is fast disappearing
Whenever the, farmers feels tho need OF
fresh meat for the home table, or there
Is a chance to convert mutton into money,
the black sheep falls a victim to the
butchers knife.
AS the fattened turkey Is marked for
the THANKSGIVING sacrifice, so the black
sheep falls a martyr before the slightest
temptation. AS the black sheep cannot
change the color of his wool any more
than the leopard can change his spots, he
is destined from birth for an
untimeiy death. While sheep
of whittier covering thrive, pros
per, are matured with care and shear
ed from season TO season, the unfortunate
victim of another pigment frequently
finds life's gambolings cut short before he
has passed from the veal period.
The black sheep in the Georgia sheep fold
is no more a favorite than in the human
domestic circle. For five years the antipa-
thy to his color has shown Itself with
increasing strength. Season after season
the clip of black wool has decreased I'M
der the process of slow determination.
Five years ago white and black wool was
largely mixed by growers and sent to this
market in that shape. But the complaints
of buyers grew louder and louder. Soon
their financial interests led the growers to
mend their methods. White wool was
sought for, and a higher price was paid
for it in the market of the North. The
black sheep went under ban. First came
the careful separation of the wool in clip
ping then the tendency TO relieve the
focks of them entirely. There was no
immediate wholesale massacre of the in
nocents. The old ewes and the young
lambs of black hue were disposed of as
opportunity offered until to-day their num-
Der is small and their annual clip fallen
much below what IL was. A few years
more and the roofing out process may
make the black sheep on a Georgia run
a rara avis to be pointed out as a curos-
ity in the animal world. Such a revolu-
ton may be wrought by the mere differe-
ence of cents a pound in favor of white
wool.
The clip in the counties in this section
of the state was reduced this year, and
will probably be less next year than in the
past. The storms and the floods that fol-
lowed are reported to have sadly depleted
many fiocks in a dozen counties. The
long drought and then the excessively
wet weather also injured the wool grow
ers, bringing disease in their path. Prices
were also against them. Throughout the
season the markets have been in an I'M
satisfactory condition, so unsatisfactory,
indeed, that one of the largest buyers here
has practically remained out of the mar
ket, buying very little compared with pre-
Vious seasons.
What the shipments have been through
Savannah Is not yet ascertainable, and
no one could tell, If the figures were at
hand, exactly how much of II was really
Georgia raised wool. Considerable wool
brought here, and shipped North. is from
sheep grown in Florida and Alabama, In
the territory where the two states have a
common boundary. This, said an old WOO
handler yesterday, is known in trade par
lance as lake" wool, and is really some
what inferior to the pure Georgia wool
the latter shrinking 6 or per cent. less
II is generally classified along with Geor-
gia grown wool, though and the effect may
be injurious to the clip OF this section
There have been times i'm the past when
Savannah was so supplied with orders that
buyers here went to Mobile, and bought
heavily of the wool merchants there. on
one occasion a Savannah buyer invaded
that market and scooped up over 1900
pounds of wool almost before the mer-
chants realized what was happening. But
that was in better days for the wool indus
try than 1t is now passing through.