WOOL INDUSTRY. 185 



Mr. Chamberlain's plan, when he first commenced making 

 manure by using sheep, was to spread it thinly, so as to go over 

 all the surface he could, and have enough to make clover grow ; 

 and he said that when he had brought his land to where it would 

 produce red clover, thenceforth improvement was easy and rapid. 

 The sheep not only gave the first impulse, but were all the time 

 depended upon as the chief manuring power. 



Mr. Geddes adds his own experience in raising sheep for many 

 years in connection with grain. He says, "With about one sheep 

 to the acre of cultivated land, pasture and meadow, we raise more 

 bushels of grain on the average than we did when we had no 

 eheep to manufactui'e our coarse forage into manure, and to enrich 

 our pastures to prepare them for grain crops. While producing 

 more crops on less acres, and at less cost than we did before we 

 kept sheep, and, at the same time, constantly improving our land, 

 we have the wool and mutton from our sheep in addition." These 

 facts are conclusive as to the superior profitableness of sheep in 

 mixed husbandry, and especially as an adjunct to wheat farming. 

 We may add that these considerations have recently attracted 

 serious attention in some older States. The Maine State Board 

 of Agriculture have discussed the subject with great earnestness ; 

 and, in their last report, have published elaborate articles showing 

 that an extension of sheep or mutton growing is of the first neces- 

 eity to the agriculture of that State. 



Promotes the Highest Arts of Agriculture. Sheep husbandry 

 in its higher branches is eminently promotive of the individual 

 culture of those who pursue it, and is thus conducive to the 

 intellectual advancement of the nation. It is well recognized that 

 the simple culture of a single crop, whether of corn or cotton, is 

 the lowest form of agriculture ; but, when combined with the 

 culture of animals, farming assumes a higher phase. The culture 

 of sheep, especially connected with wheat-growing, has distinct 

 advantages over other forms of stock-raising. One advantage, 

 though not directly bearing upon the immediate point in ques- 

 tion, is that the ewe gives two dividends each year, — her 

 fleeces and her lambs. The males give larger fleeces, and go to 

 market earlier. The beef-producing animals give no dividends, 

 and the grower must go on adding his expenses till the end of 

 their lives, when in one gross sum he must find his compensation 

 if he can. To this may be added that, in mutton production, 

 the capital invested may be turned oyer two or three times 



