WOOL growers' associatiox. 24Y 



iinniuiie to that trouble, and we hear little of it now. Occasionally 

 tlncks in new districts arc troubled with it. I believe it is onlj' a 

 question of a very short time until it will be a parasite that will 

 be spoken of as a ""has been." Outside of that I believe the greatest 

 menace or drawliack to the keepinn of slieep by the average farmer 

 is the fact that tliey may be killed by dogs, liecanse they do not receive 

 proper remuneration or pay from the county for them. If we could 

 advance our legislation so that men could get adecjuate compensation for 

 tlu'ir losses in this direction it uoidd encourage them to keej) a better 

 grade of sheep, sheep that would produce a larger number of lambs antl 

 with a heavier weight of wool, and would call the attention of the authori- 

 ties to a better enforcement of the dog law. If your comity commissioners 

 liad to pay a large tax for killed sheep, and it would roll up to any con 

 siderable sum. they would then see that the officers looked after the 

 dog part of it. As it is now. all of you who have had any experience 

 know it is almost a farce, that it is almost a mortification of the flesh 

 to make application to the township trustees for remuneration for good 

 sheep. Years ago I adopted this plan, and it might be incorporated in 

 an act of legislation. "When the tax assessor came to me I put down 

 one sheep at .$200, tive sheep at $.">() each, ten sheep at $4(> each, ten sheep 

 at $25 each, fifty sheep at $10 each and one Iiundred sheep at $(> each. 

 The assessor said, "'Isn't that rather strange"/" I asked if other farmers 

 did not put in their sheep that way. He said, no, that they gave them 

 in at the minimum price, and I thiid< the townsliii) assessor is allowed 

 to assess the sheep at two dolhus in this county. Suppose the dogs 

 break in and kill a lot of these sheep. Naturally they kill the best sheep. 

 If you have live sheep in the flock that weigh 2.W pounds each they are the 

 very first ones that are going to be killed, because they can not run 

 fast. After a little dog has chased them around the lot a few times the 

 big sheep will get on their knees and lie down, while those that are 

 long-legged and rangey get away. Then you go to the townshij) trustee 

 and say to him, "I had among my flock ten high-bred sheep tliat 1 paid 

 $25 apiece for: they have been killed and I want $25 apiece for them. 

 He will doubtless say that he will pay no such price for them. You 

 may tell him that lie hasn't anything to say about it: that you will call 

 for aj)praisers and they will appraise them and he would have to pay 

 it. He will then proljably say that he will not appoint appraisers 

 that are of youu, opinion. Then you go before these men and ask 

 them to put a price of $25 a head on those sheep, and they will say 

 that they have no such sheep in their flocks, and you will have to 

 take what tliey choose to give you. I'.ut if you can s.iy that you have jiaid 

 taxes on those sheep at $25 a head, I think almost any appraisers would 

 assess damages for that amount. You know the authorities i);iy the sheep 

 killing bills out of tlie dog fund, and tiiat fund is usually low. In some 

 places tlicy h.ivc ii.id to w.ait two or three years for tlieir money. Some- 



