194 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Such facts teach us that there is little in the objection under 

 notice, which should discourage the growers of wool. The 

 changing fortunes of all other branches of business, must at- 

 tend this also, and the man, who, in perilous times changes his 

 boat for some other, expecting thereby to find smooth waters, 

 will soon learn that he is on the same tumultuous ocean, whose 

 waves ebb and flow in obedience to the great law of supply and 

 demand. 



It should here be remarked, that if New England farmers made 

 wool less a specialty, they would feel these market changes far 

 less seriously. A little more attention to the price current of 

 Quincy Market would aid them greatly during these times of 

 depression. Let them keep sight of the value of mutton, as well 

 as of wool, and they will suffer less from a poor market for either. 



The day has passed when wool-growing of itself alone can be 

 made largely profitable in New England. In the production of 

 this staple, we cannot compete with the Western farmer — still less 

 with the lords of the immense herds on our south-western prairies, 

 even if we could feel sure of a protective tariff which would 

 exclude foreign wool from competition in our markets. It would 

 be idle to undertake such a work ; — but the breeding of superior 

 animals, which will be needed to invigorate the worn-out blood of 

 flocks in other sections of our country, is a w*ork for which the 

 climate and soil of New England, not less than the intuitive skill 

 of our farmers, are peculiarly adapted. What the future demand 

 for wool will be in our country, may readily enough be calculated 

 when we take into account our rapidly increasing population, and 

 jremember that it takes four pounds to clothe every individual in 

 'the nation for a single year. What then must be the demand 

 when our present thirty-five or forty millions shall have become 

 •seventy-five or eighty millions ? 



Calculate, if you can, the myriads that are spreading over our 

 Western prairies — filling up all the fertile valleys along the eastern 

 •borders of the Rocky Mountains — and soon to pour down the 

 western slope to the shores of the Pacific — and then say if wool- 

 growing in America will be a precarious business, or if such stock 

 as New England brains can produce upon New England soil, will 

 be likely to make a vain search for a market. 



But, gentlemen, there is still another side to this question, which 

 we should not pass unnoticed — hence I wish to call your attention 

 to Sheep as agents in renovating worn-out Pastures. 



