The Nome daily nugget., 1934-12-24

Prepared by National Geographic Society.
 Washington, D. C.-WNU Service CHEEP owners of the United States produce about 35O,OOO,, 0 O0O pounds of wool annually, or enough to supply each inhabltant of this country with a wool garment weighing nearly three pounds.
 The lowly sheep. from which comes the worlds yearly wool sup ply of slightly less than three and a third billion pounds, Is no re- spector of persons or geography. A meeting of all the worlds wool growers would reveal a motley gath ering of all creeds and colors, from Icelanders to South Africans, from Canadians to Argentines, from Si- berians to Indians. There also would be present natives of many islands of the seas.
 The sheep-raising industry Is pret- ty we'll confined to the temperate zones, however, though some fiocks graze near the Equator in high al- titudes, and others are found in the Arctic, where there Is sufficient for age. -
 The worlds sheep population is more than 500,000, 0,000-a quarter as great as the human population. Aus tralia, although comparative youngster in the wool industry, Is the worlds leading wool producer India and China are the outstand- ing sheep countries of Asia. Ar gentlna and Uruguay have the heaviest sheep population In South America. The greatest concentra- tion of sheep herds in Africa Is along the Mediterranean coastal zone from Gibraltar to Tunisia, and in South Africa. Every country of Europe raises sheep, but In Norway, Swe- den and Finland there are few focks, scattered over wide areas. The United States, with upward of 50,O0O,OOO head of sheep, is the only country In North America that has taken to wool growing in big way.
 Where Ameriea's Sheep Are.
 About four-ffths of the sheep in the United States graZe In the noun talns and on the plateaus and plains west of the Mississippi river. Texas, which has been dubbed the Cotton State" and the Sulphur State" be- cause of its supremacy In the pro duction of these commodities, also has earned the right to be called the "Wool State."' In 1882, its con tribution to the United States pile of wool was about 57,000,0O0 pounds, or about one-sixth of the wool produced in this country. Montana, whose sheep gave up more thar 32.OO0,0O0 pounds in tie same year, ranked next to the Lone Star state, with Wyoming, Oregon, Utah, California, New Mexico, Idaho, and Ohio, each of which produced more than 15,OOO,OO0 pounds, following in the order named.
 As jn the case of cotton, his torians and naturalists have been stumped by the query, when and where was wool first used?' Sheep and wool are mentioned in the Bible, and 1t Is known that the Romans practiced sheep breeding. Some of their prize animals wore jackets to protect the fleece. Shortly after the beginning of the Christian era an Italian took several sheep from Italy to Spain to breed them with the native merino sheep. Snci- dentally, the merino sheep produced the finest wools, and have been bred with many other inferior sheep to improve the latter's fleece.
 The growth of the wool industry in the United States has been phe- nomenal. Two years after Capt John Smith and his followers land. cd on the Virginia coast the first sheep were introduced Into America at their settlement. Twenty-one years later shipment of the fleecy animals from Europe was landed on the Massachusetts coast. Indians appetites, predatory animals and SC were winters made serious inroads on the colonial. flocks, SO most of the animals were kept inside town walls, on islands, and on peninsulas fenced of from the mainland.
 Growth of the Wool Industry.
 As cotton clothed the colonists of the South, wool clothed those of the North. Private homes then were America's woolen factories. The American wool trade began when sheep-owning families exchanged their wool and surplus homespun for other commodities. With the ln- crease. in colonial population the de mand for wool cloth rose and the federal government as well as To- cal governments encouraged wool I