412 Transactions of the 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



Sonoma County offers the finest field for the successful prosecution of 

 sheep husbandly. The grasses are more- free from weeds and burs than 

 the grasses of the southern counties, while the railroad traversing the 

 county, from north to south, furnishes at any point of exit from the 

 mountains on either side of the valley, an equal facility of transporta- 

 tion to nearly every sheep raiser. The lands on the coast mountains, 

 being watered by the fogs, will sustain about five sheep to two acres, 

 while those of the eastern range will support about one sheep to the 

 acre. Of course, there are many sections which will do more than this, 

 but it is not wise, generally, to pasture more sheep than in the above 

 proportion. Sheep raisers, generally, have their lands inclosed with 

 brush fence, and the sheep are permitted to herd themselves, thus sav- 

 ing the cost of a herder, which is necessary in the southern part of the 

 State. This is at once an annual profit of four hundred dollars to the 

 grazer of one thousand or one thousand five hundred sheep. It is also 

 found, by experience, that sheep are less diseased, take less food to sup- 

 port them, and are less subject to accident during gestation and at 

 parturition, when allowed to roam than when herded. The practice is 

 to shear once in the Spring and once in the Fall, though many prefer 

 only Spring clipping, believing that the wool is better and commands a 

 better price. 



An idea of the profits of sheep raisiug may be gained by relating the 

 experience of a grazier on the coast. He shears but once a year — in 

 Jul}" — and receives about seven pounds of wool from each sheep. This 

 year he sold his wool at thirty-one and one quarter cents per pound. 

 Hast February he slaughtered some of his wethers, and sold each of the 

 carcasses for five dollars. The pelts he sold for one dollar and thirty- 

 seven and one half cents. The sheep weighed, when dressed, seventy- 

 five to one hundred pounds, being a cross between the Cotswolds and 

 Merino. The gentleman pastures about two sheep to the acre, and says 

 that the increase of stock will pay the cost of keeping, shearing, 

 interest on land, and all expenses, leaving the wool as a clear profit. 



Of course, there is little land adapted to sheep walks unoccupied in 

 the county, but many fine tracts, held under possessory title, can be 

 purchased at cheap rates, the owners either having accumulated wealth 

 enough, or desiring to remove nearer educational centers. 



PRICE OF LAND. 



The best agricultural land in this county can be bought for one hun- 

 dred dollars per acre — land which will produce forty bushels of wheat 

 to the acre, without the use of fertilizers after from fifteen to eighteen 

 years of successive cropping. From the highest figure above named 

 land ranges downward as low as five dollars per acre. There are thou- 

 sands of acres, which may be bought for thirty dollars per acre, suited 

 for grape culture. Five or six years after planting, vineyards will pay 

 an interest on from two hundred and fifty to five hundred dollars per 

 acre. This land is as good for other fruit as for grapes. For dairy 

 products, butter, and cheese, for poultry and eggs, for fat cattle and 

 sheep, for wheat and other staples, we have a market at our very doors. 

 AVe have a better climate, are nearer market, and taking wheat or fruit 



