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

an ideal sheep for the range. The
fleece Of the Mexican is made finer end
improved by the introduction Of pure
Merino rams on the range, and when
the strain of Merino begins to show
too much, making weaker and more
delicate sheep, with very fine, silky
wool, the breed is strengthened by
the introduction Of some coarser wool
sheep like the Oxfords. So the bal
ancc is maintained.
This work has now been going on
for many years, and the breeding is
likely to coatinue along the same
lines till the ideal wool-mutton breed
is found. This may occupy long
time, but there has been SO much
done in recent years in the hybridiz-
ing Of plants aD animals that i. would
seem anything might be expected to
develop in the cross bred line at any
time.
The department he's helped the
sheep industry all it could and has
furnished the farmers with great
many valuable works on the subject Of
sheep raising, feeding and treating for
diseases of one sort or another till the
department has come to be looked
upon by the sheep men as q source Of
much good and great information. The
department has convinced the farmer
of the value Of sheep, as one Of his
farm products, but it is continuing its
educational work and is anxious to
impress the farmer with the fact that
we still import over half million dol
lars annually Of Canadian mutton in
spite of the heavy tariff against it.
Therefore, the department would like
to see sheep raised on all the land
that otherwise lays waste under the
farmers hands. 1t has been said fol
o great many years that any land il
good enough to raise sheep on and
that they thrive Oh bad lands, where
other animals would starve. Thi.
is true to great extent, but the de-
partment would also like to impress
on the farmer the fact that sheer
thrive even better on good lands thar
they do on bad, and there is no lane
30 valuable taat it is TOO good to reiss
mutton on. This has been proved bJ
the department in long series o.
costly experiments.
The great work that the department
is striving for now is the eradication
Of sheep scab, which costs the coun
try hundreds Of dollars annually
The department commenced crusade
in this direction several years ago
Up to the present moment there orc
two States entirely cleared OF scab
and with the right to quarantine
against the rest Of the world, and OF
soon aa the National Government il
allowed to- go into the remaining
States and Territories the whole coun,
try will be cleared out and the disease
which is the greatest foe the sheer
man has 10 encounter will be com
pletely eradioated.
A good many non farmers may moi
know just what sheep soa5 is, and 70,
their !. benefit it may be we'll to say
that it is simply a sheep parasite tha,
gets under the skin and causes the
wool to fall, completely running the
fleece and eventually weakening the
sheep till it dies.
The disease is aouteIy contagious
and till few years ago had spread al
over the United States without ,
check being found for it. Now
thanks to the departments work, i,
is known 20 be comparatively easilJ
cured, the aheep being simply dipped
in solution that kills the parasite
Either tobacco and sulphur or lime
and sulphur are used for this, though
there are . hundred different ''cures'
now on the market. But the farme,
can make his own cure as rule more
cheaply that he can buy it, and The
department has taught him by precepi
and example how to clean out biz
herds and keep them clean. The
Ctota of Vr,rs~a ....,k,-t'.