No. 5. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 287 



tlieir fertilizers ready mixed, better than they are able to mix it 



themselves, and still have just what they want and at reasonable 

 prices. 



REPOKT OF COMMITTEE ON WOOL AND TEXTILE FIBRES 



By JAMES M. PAXTON, Chairman. 



Sheep were raised in the earliest times for their pelt and without 

 regard to the wool. They were the earliest domesticated of any of 

 the wild animals, and this domestication, together with the breeder, 

 has changed the character of the animal very much. At the present 

 time there are but few wild sheep known. History tells us that 

 God's chosen people had all their richest attire made of the product 

 of the sheep, and of the Jewish maidens holiday attire being woolen 

 garments made from the finest and softest wool. 



By consulting statistics we will readily understand why the pro- 

 duction of wool has been the one purpose which our sheep breeders 

 have had in view. Beginning with the year 1825 we find wool sell- 

 ing at seventy-five cents per pound, and the average price for twenty- 

 five years from that time was fifty-four cents per pound. Begin- 

 ning with 1850 we find wool selling at an average for the next quar- 

 ter of a century of over fifty-five cents per pound, and during the time 

 from July, 1864, until the following spring, it sold for 11.00 per 

 pound. No wonder breeders wei^e stimulated to produce wool. 

 About this time the American Merino sheep was produced, which 

 as a wool producer, has no successful rival. Beginning with the year 

 1875 we find for the next 12 years fine wool sold at an average of 

 only forty-one cents per pound, and from that time to the present 

 the market has drifted downward until now wool has become so 

 low that sheep raisers are paying more attention to the produc- 

 tion of mutton. Sheep raising does not seem to have been under- 

 taken on so large a scale as perhaps it should, as sheep yield a 

 double return — meat and wool. As a meat-food animal sheep have 

 never been sufficiently appreciated in the United States. They are, 

 however, of very great value and must be classed with swine and 

 poultry as the most available animals to supph^ meat for home 

 use on the average farm, as they are readily slaughtered, the meat 

 can be kept without difficulty, it is nutritious, wholesome and palat- 

 able when properly cooked. 



Sheep are more prolific than most farm animals, the increase be- 

 ing 100 per cent, or better in some cases. Government data shows 

 an alarming decrease of livestock in recent years. The receipts of 

 sheep at six of the leading markets for September, 1913, and 1914, 

 show a total decrease of 301,686. There is a world shortage of 

 sheep. The population of the world has increased near 30 per cent, 

 in the past 15 years, but practically no increase in the number of 

 19 



