East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-06-19

america is becoming yearly more of
sheep raising and mutton eating
country, writes the Washington cor-
respondent of the Chicago Tribune
Ihis Is due primarily to the initiative
OF the department of agriculture
whlch Tor the last 10 years has been
hammering at the farmer to raise
sheep instead of exporting his surplus
grain, and which has helped him in
every way to this end.
one result is that there were re-
ported on the first of this year over
45,OOO,OOO sheep on the farms and
ranches of the United States. valued
at $l27.331.S55, as against less than
Sb'OOO'OOO In 1899. The receipts of
the Chicago stockyards are reaching
upward every year since 1894, when
the yards took over a million more
mutton sheep than in the previous
year.
The department is anxious to i'm
press on the farmer the value of sheep
as one of his farm products, and it
points out that, which the sale of 81.
5000 worth of fertility, the farmer
would have to spend that much in
fertilizers to recoup the land. The
same amount of corn converted into
good mutton and sold at a higher
price than the corn would fetch takes
in the end from the land not over $50
worth of fertility and If the flock
was kept for wool alone it would not
reduce the value of the land more
than SO or 81.
There is particular interest attach
ing to the sheep raising problem just
now, because the price of mutton is
going up by leaps, not only in the
stores where the consumer has to buy
it, for every one realizes this, but in
Chicago. where lambs recently have
touched the unprecedented figure OF
IS per hundredweight. and are now
selling at about s7.25.
During the early days in America
sheep were bred primarily for the
wool and during recent years we have
been importing annually. in addition,
from S25.00O, 900 to S30,000,000 worth
of wool. But the wool industry in
this country has come to the point
where ii frequently does not pay to
raise the sheep for the fleece alone.
There, has therefore, been an increas-
ing effort to get a good combination
breed that would live in large flocks
on the range. furnish a good fleece
and at the same time be a good NUT
ton sheep.
The farmers of the east still are
combining themselves to the English
breeds of downs and shires, which
are great meat producers, while the
western ranches depend largely on
the old Mexican sheep, which is a de-
scendant of the fine merinos imported
by the Spaniards. but which has been
affected by environment till it has de-
veloped characteristics of its own and
is in a great many respects an ideal
sheep for the range.
The fleece of the Mexican is made
finer and improved by the introduce
ton of pure merino rams on the
range, and when the strain of merino
begins to show too much, making a
weaker and more delicate sheep, with
fine, silky wool, the breed is streng-
thened by the Introduction of some
coarser wool sheep, like the Oxfords.
So the balance is maintained.
The department has convinced the
farmer of the value of sheep as one
Of his farm products, but it is continu-
ing its educational work. and is anx-
ious to impress the farmer with the
fact that he still imports over half a
million dollars annually of Canadian
mutton in spite of the heavy tariff
against it.
The great work that the department
is striving for now is the eradication
OF sheep scab. which costs the country
hundreds of thousands of dollars an
nually. The department commenced
a crusade in this direction several
years ago.
Up to the present moment there are
two states entirely cleared of scab
and with the right to quarantine
against the rest OF the world. and as
the national government is allowed to
go into the remaining states and terri
tories the whole country will be clear
ed out and the disease, which is the
greatest foe the sheepman has to en-
counter, will be completely eradi-
Gated.
A good many non-farmers may not
know Just what sheep scab is, and for
their benefit 1t may be well to say that
1t is simply sheep parasite that gets
under the skin and causes the wool to
fall. completely running the fleece and
eventually weakening the sheep till 1t
dies.
The disease is acutely contagious
and till n few years ago had spread
all over the United States without
check being found for it. Now,
thanks to the departments work, 1t
is known to be comparatively easily
cured, the sheep being simply dipped
in a solution that kills the parasite.
Ether, tobacco and sulphur or lime
and sulphur are used for this, though
there are hundred different "cures"
pou m tho market