The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-05-29
ESSAY ON THE SHEEP.
Secretary of Kansas Board of Agrf
culture Grows Eloquent.

F. d. Coburn. in Official Report.
No useful animal of record antedates the
sheep. No animal has a wider habitat, or
has been from the beginning more an oOJect
of solicitous care-taking. Abel, an heir OF
Eden and son Of its first occupants. was a
keeper of sheep: Early Jewish nistofy Is
constituted the wealth and largely the cares
of the Hebrew patriarchs down through the
err; Rachel, the mother of Joseph, tended
her fathers fiocks, and Joseph was caring
for Jacobs sheep when stolen and sold into
sand sheep; Moses herded the focks or
Jethro, his father-in-law, and David, the
greatest king of the Jews. was keeping MS
fathers sheep when called TO pubic lie.
1t was the shepherds watching by night
on Judea's plain to whom were nrst youch-
safed the good tidings of great JOY. dsclar-
ing a Savior born unto the world-tne
Lamb of God. the Good Shepherd"
Their propagation. care and improvement
a played a large part in the best hus-
bandry of all lands from time immemorial.
| common to every country. they have adapt
/ ed themselves to every condition. Existent
on Greenland's frozen mountains, they are
at home on Sahara and the scorched nanos
of the Orinoco as well. Hungry, restless and
gaunt on Switzerland's bleakest Alps, they
represent one extreme OF sheep. existence;
on the plains of Kansas AMI their affiuence
OF grain and grass attaining a development
nowhere else discovered possible, they rep
resent the other.
Their flesh is both a staple and a d~elicacy
wherever civilization exists; appetizing and
nealtn1ul nOurlShment 10 the ldnguiSnlng IN
valid and strength-renewing TO those whose
toll and burden are heaviest. From their
wool have been clothed the armies of domi-
nant nations in all times; by spindle, loom
and needle il is fashioned TO meet a wider
range OF requirements for the bodily COM
fort Of humankind than any other fiber,
animal or vegetable; infancy and age, the
weakest and the strongest, opulence and in
| digence, rely upon ii for comfort, service,
adornment, and surest protection from sum
mer's heat and winters cold. The Sleeps
skins are through a thousand channels a
large factor in manufactures, arts and
| commerce.
In Kansas there are fifty million acres
upon every one of which, on an average, a
appreciate, and the acres value be en-
HANGED rather than diminished each year
thereby. This alone would make the com
monwealth rich. The opportunities that &C
unheeded are revealed by taking this in con
nection with the fact that the State has
scarcely one sheep to each go acres of It's
fruitful area, maintaining the while l76,Wt
dogs-as a rule the sleeps cruel and ever
implacable enemies. Such a condition of af'
fairs in a State which could care for 50 pei
| cent. more sheep than are owned In all OF
the United States is discreditable but none
the less suggestive. Crowded Britain finds
profit in an average of 800 to the square
mile of its high-priced lands.
Kansas has no superior as a region fol
the ready and inexpensive production OF
wool and mutton. Giving to the world
| feeces which in quality have never beer
surpassed and in weight never elsewhere
| equaled, goes far to demonstrate this.
When her people rightly realize an6
utilize the possibilities and the condition:
rounded them, her territory will be the sea
| of agricultural empire.