Tombstone epitaph., 1918-06-23
SCHEME TO FEED
 WASTE TO SHEEP
Opportunity Offered on College Grounds, in Parks and on
 Large Private Lawns.
MAKE MONEY OUT OF FlOcKS
Saving Also Made In Moving and Weed Eradieation-Investi Before
 Launching Into Enterprise.

There are thousands of places In the United States where grass is now go- ing to waste that would support small focks of sheep. Among such places are public parks. golf courses, private estates with large lawns, and college grounds. Over most of these areas a lawn mower is run regularly to keep down the grass. If flock of sheep were substituted for the lawn mower not only would the grass be utilized for food production but the labor now necessary to keep the grass cut would be released for other and more essen- tial war work.
 Of course, considerable care needs to be exercised in the matter of stock ing such open areas with sheep. The creation of big demand for animals for this purpose SO as to interfere se- riously with normal market conditions would not be desirable. The United States department of agriculture ad- vises persons charged with the care of such properties to consider putting in some sheep. but to investigate condi- tons thoroughly before they embark in the enterprise. The animal hus- bandry division of the department will be glad to answer requests for infor- nation, and has a number of publica- tons on the subject available for free distribution.
 Pleasure and Profit
 It Is believed that in many instances, particularly on the large golf courses and at educational institutions having extensive grounds. sheep raising could be practiced In such manner as to bring a large measure both of pleasure and profit. This should be particularly true on school grounds where ordinar- fly some member of the faculty Is good enough animal husbandman to give them the proper care. In any event, 1t Is a matter worthy of careful consid- eration. The gross annual returns from ewes of breeding age may be ex- pected to range as high as S20 head. The fleece from one sheep averages from five to eight pounds and Is now selling for from 50 to 65 cents pound. One lamb to each eve Is a conserv- alive estimate. The lamb at five months will weigh approximately 60 pounds and be worth probably % cents a pound. A flock of 20 ewes such as could be maintained on a good-sized col lege campus might be expected, there fore, to yield an annual profit of ap- proximately $35O. which would go a good way toward endowing a lecture ship.
 Weed Eradication.
 Aside from the question of direct profit, sheep would be useful on such lawns In eradicating weeds. For sev- eral years the Kansas state agricai- tural college spent over $4S0 a year on the college campus in an effort to eradicate dandelions. About three years ago the animal husbandry de- partment was short of pasture for its sheep and suggested to the college au- thorities that If the money formerly spent for dandelion eradication were turned over to them they would under take to get rid of the dandelions by grazing the sheep on the campus. To- day the.e are practically no dandelions on the Kansas agricultural college grounds. The same thing would be true on any other large lawn. In prac- tically all cases, on order to keep them out of flower beds and shrubbery, sheep Asust be herded. This can be