The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-17
Why Not Sheep-Raising As Industry
 To Make Alabama Farmers Prosperous?
Experienced Sheep Weevil bama Grasses Thar Any Other IndustrylIow Dog
 lem Will Solve Itself.

bring the best results from every angle Ton might say that you cannot ! have results from sheep on account
 or the dogs not being restricted or
 taxed high enough to put out of
 commission all the no account
 dogs. But let me say that if the | farmers in q community get inter- ested in growing something that
 means money tQ them, and n cuss-
 ed. worthless dog, or for that mat
 ter good dog that finally gets tlrc
 sheep killing habit. is the subject
 To be dealt with, the dog will get handled in the proper manner. 1 It will work just like it worked with i the automo bile and good roads. w., have all seen many people who were against good roads, and absolutely antagonistic toward any one who drove a car until it came their turn to own one and pretty soon you would sec them at the good roads eeting, and out boosting any time the opportunity afforded. Hence the astonishing re- suits of the good roads movement ali over the country All we need to get rid of the cur
 is. for the farmer to get something that will make him money, which tbe uoS ueStTOyS. The dog menace cum be overcome somewhat by
 keeping sheep properly attended
 to. and any time dog is seen
 around them. quietly kill him, for
 he will not kill as rule, until he
 has hung around the sheep for
 several dnys. It is murderOus
 job and he has to work himself up
 10 the point of hearing "the call
 of the wild" before he can become
 cold bloOded murderer.
 Now, for the labor end of the prob lem One man can look after all the sheep any farm can support if he has his fences and his pastures arranged properly, the year round with the ex- ception of the lambing season, and a couple of months feeding period, if he really has. to feed. Some farms are heavy pasture farms, and many of them are capable of supporting heir capacity the year around without feed- ing. I am not prepared to say that this is always the best but from in vestigations last spring I know that 1t is done in a great many instances.
 Wool is in class by itself when it comes to competition. I say it has no competition, and when it comes to the market one has the other wool pro ducing countries to fight and no sub stitute. for you cannot make a woolen blanket from a bale of cotton. People who once get the habit of wearing woolen clothes very seldom ever go back to cototon.
 The wool industry in the west is dwSndling on account of shortage Of range brought about by the govern ments lands being settled by home steaders, and they are not so fortunate in the" west in having such an abund- ance of grass per acre, so that it takes much larger holdings to support a band of sheep. This, coupled with the recent hard winters and high prices of feed, have driven many sheep men out of business, and the state of Montana wlli not produce one-nalf the wool it did ten years ago. Just like Alabama in the future. for they have many will not produce nearly so much cotton drawbacks, the principal one being the cost of production, of which you hear So much on every hand, to the effect that the growers cannot afford to take less than 40 cents per pound, for it has cost from 25 to 30 cents to pro- duce it in labor and expense alone.
 We hear the old theory advanced
 that wool will not grow heavy in
 the south and I want to contradict
 that idea right here, for have
 made n careful investigation along
 this line and even went to the trOu-
 bie of selecting some "AIabama
 grown wool from n grade eve, and
 took 1t nIl the way to Montana,
 compared 1t with the wool from n
 registered eve of the same age
 and grade sheep. and then took it
 to n wool expert. He could not de-
 tect difference in the staple, not
 enough difference in the quality to
 make n difference in the price.
 so finally convinced him as well as myself that the Alabama sheep will produce just as good wool as a western sheep, if you raise the same kind and grade sheep, which is the heavy shear ing kind. the grade Rambouillet being