The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-04-19
Washington Star.

America is becoming yearly more OF
. sheep-raising and mutton-eatlng
country. This is due primarily to
the initiative of the department OF
agriculture, which for the past ten
years has been hammcring at the lar
mer to raise sheep instead OF export
ing his surplus grain, and which has
helped him in every way TO TINS
end.
One result is that there were re-
ported on the first Of this year over
45,000,000 sheep on the farms and
ranches of the United States, valued
at 1927 ,331 ,S55, as against less than
33,OOOOOO in 1899. The receipts at
the Chicago stock yards are reaching
upward every year since 1894, when
the yards took over million more
mutton sheep than il the previous
year. The department is anxious to
impress on the farmer the value OF
sheep as one of his farm products,
and it points out that while the sale
Of 81 900 worth of corn takes from the
soil $500 worth Of fertility, that is to
say the farmer would have to spend
that much in fertilizers to recoup the
land, the same amount of corn con-
verted into good mutton and sold at
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 three or four dol
lars.
There is particular interest attach
ing to the sheep-raising problem just
now because tho price Of mutton is
going up by loaps, not only in the
stores where The consumer has to buy
it, for every one realizes this, but in
Chicago where lambs have recently
touched the unprecedented figure Of
SO per hundred weight, and are nov
selling at about 1926.
The sheep expert of the department
of agriculture is Mr.. George F. Thomp.
son, editor Of the bureau of animal in.
dustry, and in talking with Star re-.
porter he gave an interesting exposi-
tion OF what the department has been
doing in the sheep line and what it
hopes to accomplish.
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 100000 to $50, 100000 worth
Of wool. But the wool industry in
this country has come to the point
where it frequently does not pay to
raise the sheep for the fleece alone.
There has, therefore, been an increas-
ing effort to get good combination
breed that would live in large ao0ks
on che range, furnish good fleece,
and ct the same time be good mut-
tol sheep. This has been work Of
great difficulty and is by no means
yet accomplished. The Iowa expert
ment station has had DR.. J. w. Ken
nedy working on the breeding problem
for several years, experimenting with
Merinos for wool, and Southdowns
and Shropshirss for mutton, with q
number Of other breeds. But up to
s date the experiments have not been
q productive Of any new fixed breeds
which would have the desired char
Ii aoteristics and transmit them un.
changed to its progenoy. The result
is that the farmers Of the East are
sjsstill oonfiniug themselves to the Eng
lish breeds Of Downs and Shires,
which are great meat producers, while
the Western ranches depend largely
on the old Mexican sheep, which is Q
descendant Of the fine Merinos i'm.
!. ported BY the Spaniards, bat which
has been affected by environment till
iE has developed oharacteris,ios Of its
own, and is ina great many respects