305 : 



sand dollars worth of them, and his outlay must be very in- 

 considerable. But when the farmer must prepare pastures 

 and inclose his land, he thought that sheep, if they were 

 healthy, would be the most profitable stock, especially in in- 

 land situations, which had no market advantages, because the 

 freights on wool were small compared with its value. 



Governor Wright condemned mule raising. Our farmers, 

 he said, had directed too much attention to them, because of 

 the favorable prices given, but he apprehended the business 

 would be overdone. Horses were preferable stock to them, 

 and he thought they would continue high. Cattle, too, 

 would not decrease in price, and any one having a farm of 

 200 acres ought to direct his attention to that kind of stock. 

 The advantage they had was, that as food, the great increase 

 of population would create a demand, which would keep 

 pace with the increased numbers that might be raised. They 

 cropped the grass without demanding the labor of the farmer; 

 nearly all his labor was given in preparing pastures for them. 

 They take but little from the fertility of the soil. But in 

 these respects hogs were very difterent. It is supposed that 

 this State has sold the past season about three millions of 

 dollars worth of hogs. To produce the corn necessary to 

 feed this number, has required great labor, and an exhaustion 

 of soil, that can be estimated only by those who live in dis- 

 tricts where corn raising has drawn so much fertility from 

 the land as to render it useless until restored by the grasses. 

 With cattle it was very different. One of the most success- 

 ful farmers of his acquaintance, confined his attention to cat- 

 tle raising, and no one seemed to get along with less labor. 

 He bought up in the spring yearlings, and kept them but one 

 winter. When about two and a half years old he sold 

 his steers, as at this age, he thought them most profitable to 

 dispose of. 



He desired to say something more about sheep. The Re- 

 porter had misunderstood his remarks about the surplus 

 amount of wool of Ohio. It was about three millions of 

 20 



