48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



year there were ninety million less sheep in the world than 

 there were in 1873. There has been a steady decrease then 

 of three millions per year since 1873 in the whole world. A 

 more deplorable thing than that is that there has been a de- 

 crease of ten millions of sheep right here in the United States 

 since 1900. Now taking into consideration that fact, and 

 taking into consideration the fact that the sheep of today will 

 be, after the visual lamb crop is disposed of by the first of 

 March or April, above six years of age — and six years is 

 about the age of usefulness — and you can see that we are 

 pretty near on the verge of a sheep famine. It seems, farmers, 

 that it becomes the farmers of the whole United States, not 

 simply the farmers of the State of 'Connecticut, or the New 

 England States, or New York, ]\lichigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 

 or other states where they have been keeping sheep, to see 

 that this is really a serious question, and that the whole 

 United States should be interested. Why? For several 

 reasons. We cannot, in my judgment, and I believe you 

 will agree with me in that, we cannot safely and profitably 

 prosecute farm \vork in the New England States, or in the 

 states of New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio, at 

 any rate,and I know that it is so in those states because I am fa- 

 miliar v/ith them, — I know that we cannot carry on our farms 

 as we should without we keep some sheep, so I will put it 

 down as an essential thing, as the first essential thing, keep 

 some sheep on the farm. Why? As I came down through 

 Pennsylvania yesterday, and Southern New York, and saw 

 the weeds growing up in the pastures in the dairy sections of 

 Pennsylvania, that the sheep would eradicate and turn into 

 mutton, I could not help but feel that a mistake was being 

 made. Now take into consideration the fact that for the 

 past ten years what we call hothouse lamb has sold on the 

 average at $9.70 per head year after year in the markets of 

 New York, Buffalo, and Chicago, and yet from the lack of a 

 few sheep on the farm many of you have been allowing that 

 money to get right away from you into some other places that 

 could have been added to the income of the farm. I say the 

 first essential then is that a few sheep should be kept on 

 every farm, whether it is a grain farm, a fruit farm, or a 

 dairy farm for the purpose of rooting out the weeds and 

 turning them into mutton. As I travel over my own State 



