St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-11-14

Farmers ana Government and State
Officials, the object of which was to
Forward. the business of sheep-rais-
( ing in New England and New York.
At this gathering general confidence
was Expressed In the practicability
of restoring the sheep industry in
this section of the country, although
certain obstacles to- a revival were
| presented and by no means belittled.
The resolutions adopted by the con-
ference state the need of central ex-
| changes for the marketing Of wool
and breeding stock. of the provision
| hy the several states OF. funds and
facilities for the importation and
! breeding of stock, Of liberal finan-
cfal assistance to farmers starting
out in the business, and of uniform
/ legislation for the restriction of all
dogs to their owners premises be-
tween the hours of 6 p. m. and Z
4. m.
1t is an extremely interesting
thing, in the face of the present very
high price of wool and mutton,
taken in conjunction with the fact
that there are today in New Eng
and New York fully 100000 acres
OF unimproved land. not counting
I! woodland. that it should be necess-
airy to invoke so much legislation
and financial, assistance in order to
i induce the farmers to raise sheep.
Why does not the law of supply and
! demand take care of the matter?
We were told by authorities at the
conference that the great reason
why New England farmers went out
Eof the sheep business fifty years ago
was Western range competition. To
a great extent, that competition has
now been removed. The production
Of sheep has been greatly curtailed
/ iii the West, not only By the exhaus-
+. ton Of the ranges, but by their con-
version into farms. The 1917 lamb
crop in the range states is rated at
Eonly 5000 to 500 of the normal, In
the meantime, the farmers of New
England are perfectly willing to
/. make money. Why do they not en-
i brace this opportunity? 1853
There is reason-there. are in
1 fact, three reasons. This conference
does not seem to have got at them
Mr.. A. c.. Bigelew, of the Philadel-
/
and the leader OF the sheep
movement, says that the reason is
largely psychological. The industry.
he says, has been suffering from
i progressive anernia for SO long that
/ nobody wants to take it up. Can
this be the case? It seems to US
that such q view is. altogether fool
ish. If the farmer is offered a high
| price for an article for the produc-
! ton Of which hissSfarn1 is adapted, he
usually takes it up quickly enough.
be it potatoes, hops. ginseng or wool.
The fact is that the New England
/ farmer sees himself -. effectively
!. buried from sheep raising by three
things. The first is the dogs. The
country is overrun with them. and
to effect the restrictive measure pro-
posed by the conference, and which
is absolutely vital. several years OF
feffort would be necessary. Yet the
4 dog IS smaller obstacle than either
of 81 the other two. The second OF
/ these obstacles is the fact that New
England pastures are already ex-
'hausteds by extensive and too SUPER
4 ficial milk farming. The effect OF
4 turning sheep upon these poor hill
4 side pastures would be to EXTERN
mate the grass and hopelessly erode
/ the pastures Amore intensive de-
4 velopnent of pasture lands, with
1 rotation in pasturage and tillage. is
needed; and right here comes in the
third and greatest obstacle to wool
and mutton farming IN New Eng
land, which is the scarcity, of agri-
cultural labor. Sheep, in default OF
dor, legislation which it Will take
years to get. must be constantly
herded But the farmer himself IS
involved to the limit in the care OF
cows. which are the thing that Keeps
lhis head above water financially
Help adequate not only to the herd
Ting Of the sheep, but to the restor-
ation of his pastures, he cannot get
And that is about all OF the psy-
GEOLOGY of the situation there IS.
4stt is possible that the high price
| Of wool and mutton, the Wlliinghess
4 Of both the Government and the
banks to assist the grower and the
enterprise, and ingenuity OF the New
England farmer himself will triumph
n,ver- this triple difficulty and give
lis the sheep industry back AGAIN.
/ I3i,t its restoration cannot be accom-
ilished all at once nor by the waving
j az any wand. tt is to be hoped that
efsterprising individuals who are SO
situated that they can care for their
! fiocks. provide them with. proper
4 nasturage, and handle all the various
4 adfuncts of the business. will set an
example of success in it to their
/ neigfbors. There is neither any ma
1 terial nor psychological reason why
I the New England farmer shou}d for
ever carry all his eggs in one bas-
ket. : One suggestion made at the
/ recent conference is worthy Of all
/ attention and honor 1t is that far
mers, say eight or ten of them IN
each case, shall overcome the dog
| and labor difficulty at once by club
.bing together, allowing their sheep
| to Craze on lands thrown into one
/ great pasture. and hire one man as
"a shepherd, all of whose time and
attention will be given to- the com
mon flock. This would be method
of that cooperation which, by one
application or another, has triumph
led over individual. impotence in the
past and now triumphs over it every
day in many lines of effort Boston
I ;. int