No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 249 



business has been almost entirely killed by the development of the 

 mining industry, with its influx of foreigners with their dogs. Penn- 

 sylvania probably has as good a dog law as any state in the Union, 

 yet the laws are not sufficient to protect the sheep men. Their 

 execution involves too much disagreeable work and too much red 

 tape. It is safe to say that three-fourths of the dogs in this State 

 are absolutely worthless, yet it would probably be impossible to 

 go out and kill a single dog without otfeudiug some one. The num- 

 ber of dogs which no one owns when the assessor comes around is 

 usually much larger than the number which have acknowledged 

 owners. Yet kill one of these dogs, and the owner very promptly 

 appears. The sheep man must, to a very great extent, take the 

 execution of the law into his own hands. While the law does not 

 permit the placing out of poison, it would seem that in many cases 

 this would be justifiable. In keeping a few sheep it is not possible 

 for the owner to be in sight of them at all times. Yet there is not 

 an hour during the day or night that they are safe. The dogs turn 

 up at the most unexpected times, they may come singly or in droves. 

 Usually they come in droves and begin by chasing the sheep for fun. 

 The result is inevitably either dead sheep or dead dog. 



One thing which seems to indicate greater profits in the future 

 for the Eastern sheep men, is the decreasing numbers fed on screen- 

 ings near the large Northern flour mills. A few years ago great 

 numbers of Western lambs were shipped into Minnesota, Wisconsin 

 and Michigan, and fattened on screenings from large flour mills 

 of that region. This proved to be a very profitable business, and 

 the increase was rapid. The price of wheat v/ent up, and the millers 

 seeing the greater demand for screenings, immediately raised the 

 price of this feed, which has greatly cut down the profits of the 

 feeders. Probably the using of screenings in making many forms 

 of mill feed and various stock foods has also contributed to an in- 

 crease in price. At any rate the business of fattening sheep on 

 screenings will probably never be as profitable as it has been in 

 the past. With the increased cultivation of alfalfa in Pennsylvania, 

 the sheep business will also be made more profitable. Alfalfa un- 

 doubtedly forms the best roughage to be had for fattening and 

 growing sheep. The lambs fed in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming 

 are fattened almost wholly on alfalfa hay. More alfalfa in Pennsyl- 

 vania and higher prices for it in the West ought to help bring the 

 sheep business this way. Further, the way the sheep business is 

 being conducted on the range, it can't last nlways. The range 

 itself is being taken up by settlers, where not taken up by the pas- 

 turers, are so overloaded that the native vegetation is being rapidly 

 killed out, and no method has yet been discovered for renewing it. 



PRACTICAL POULTRY KEEPING FOR PENNSYLVANIA. 



Bv MR W. THEODOKE WiTTMAN, Allentcwn, Pa. 



It would seem, after the great mass of matter being published 

 monthly by the poultry press of this country, that there was little 

 or nothing to be said along the line of ^"praotioal poultry keeping." 

 17 



