Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-06-02

y the days when the west Of the
United States still was young the
man who raised sheep was an out
cast, to be prosecuted, bounded and run
out Of the country with such of his fiocks
as might survive the attacks of the cattle
men. Today in the Dominion of. New
Zealand, which still is a young country,
a different story Is being written. For
the humble sheep is the king Of animals
there and the sheepman is the fair haired
boy to whom every one pays homage.
When you mention farming to q New
Zealander his mind at once turns to
sheep, and while you may be able TO talk
to him Of filling the soil and growing
grain and fruits and vegetables. it is
only a question of minutes before he has
shifted back to sheep again.
1t was thus in the days when the
islands were divided into provinces. with
separate governments; it is today, and it
always will be- So greatly has the i'm
portance Of the sheep been recognized
that the heraldic arms of the Province OF
Canterbury, the agricultural center or
the Dominion, display three sheep as the
principal figures.
To one fresh from the United States
the thing that attracts attention after
you have been able TO realize the extent
to which sheep are raised in New Zealand
is horses. For in rugged, mountainous
country which is to be found almost ev-
erywhere throughout the dominion the
horse has not yet succumbed to the mo-
tor And what horses they are, None
of the understood. poorly conditioned ami
mails with which so many Of our own
farmers in the United States are content
to work, but great, broad hipped, deep
chested fellows, mostly Clydesdales and
Shfres, in whose veins runs blood OF the
best work stock of other lands. For the
New ZeaIander loves horses ana only the
best will suit him. And that is why the
percentage of poor horses in the 37500O
now in New Zealand is so very small as
to be negligible.
Next to sheep-raising dairying is the
great industry of New Zealand and the
government figures show almost 100000
dairy cows are scattered throughout the
north and south islands, for while there
is a total of 2S,OOO,OOO acres in the Do
minion which IS suitable for general
farming there is n total of q 600 600 acres
which is purely pastoral-hills and slopes
where grain cannot be sown but which
during nine months Of the year produces
rich grazing.
GREAT FARMING AND
SToCK-RAIsING COUNTRY.
New Zealand is a great farming and
stock raising country because It's ranges
of temperature are not great. Its sum-
mers never get too hot to burn up the
grazing lands and its winters never are
so cold that stock has TO be housed from
the elements Water is plentiful every
where and there are thousands u pom thou
sands of acres of virgin land which art
eminently suited to sheep.
In the North Island is TO be found
the greatest sheep and dairying districts,
for the South Islands flat lands are
best suited for the growing of cereals and
fruit. Still the South Island does not
yield the palm for livestock to the
North Island, for the sheep on the 30OO,-
OO0 (three million) acres OF Cantert ury
Plains set the high standard OF ex-
ported mutton for which New Zealand is
famous and the dairy products of Banks
Peninsula grade with the highest class.
Canterbury, too, is the place to which
in the winter months sheep are brought
from other provinces for fattening upon
the forage and root crops which are
raised there for sheep feed.
1t was the discovery in 1881 that sheep
killed in New Zealand and frozen could
be safely exported to other countries
and sold at good prices which has revolu-
tionized farming in New Zealand. Until
that time the land was mostly in large
blocks where the sheep were grazed upon
wild grasses. Wool and tallow, with
some preserved meat, were the products
for which there WAS a market. with
the advent Of freezing works and re-
friQeratOr shins there develOped a
tendency toward mixed farming. Today
instead of grazing sheep and lambs upon
land which has been sown without
blowing or letting them root out a
living and grow fat upon the native
growths, the sheepman grows special
crops for FODDER and makes it his object
to fatten the greatest possible number
of lambs so that they are ready for ex-
port at from four to eight months. Gull
tivation and manuring of the lands where
root and forage crops are grown IN
rotation with grain crops has done
much to increase the carrying capacity
of the land. The climate of New
Zealand IS so eminently suitable to sheep
that even in exposed mountainous coun-
try the increase by lambing is 10 per
cent while in farm lOcks increases of as
high as 125 to 14O per cent are not IN
common. This high rate of increase and
the low. cost of fattening makes sheep
raising a paying business.
ALSO GET PROFIT
FROM THE WOOL.
From the WOOL too. the sheep raiser
gets a good profit. The wool is not of
the highest grade. for pure-5red Merino
sheep mike I'D less than 5 per cent of the