21 



Bernardino : Cattle, cows, an^ hogs slowly diminishing, as more attention is being paid 

 to the raising of sheep, which is fonnd more profitable. 



Oregon. — Grant : A slight reduction in the price of horses of the same quality, but, 

 owing to improvement in bloods, the average is as high as one year ago ; considerable 

 reduction in the price of oxen and other cattle ; 10 per cent, in the price of cows, and a 

 decrease in the value of hogs, owing to outside competition. Clackamas : Kailroads and 

 steamboats have done away with the necessity of so many horses. Tillamook : Marked 

 improvement in the stock of horses ; prices tending upward. Market dull for cattle, 

 and few sales. A large increase in milch-cows, dairying being the most profitable busi- 

 ness in our county. Graded sheep do the best, and there is a marked improvement 

 over last year. Douglas : The great decrease in horses owing, in part, to the fact that 

 farmers are raising less, finding sheep more profitable, and, in part, to the many that 

 were bought up last spring for military purposes. The increase in cattle occasioned 

 by no demand for them the past year. Sheep in active demand ; very few for sale 

 until after shearing. The low price of grain of all kinds creates quite an active demand 

 for hogs. 



Colorado. — Eio Grande : Stock-raising in this county on a large scale no longer a 

 paying business ; therelore cattle are decreasing. Horses and sheep are increasing. 

 Sheep pay best. The fleece of the Mexican sheep is improving, both in weight and 

 quality. Douglas : The county was divided in 1874, and a new county, Ebert, formed, 

 taking three-fourths of the oxen and other cattle and one-fourth of the cows. As 

 many sheep have come into the county as the new county took. 



Utah. — Box Elder : All cattle, especially beef, are low in price. Montana Territory 

 produces cattle in great abundance for both Eastern and Western markets, which 

 affects our market unfavorably. Salt Lake : The value of horses, cattle, and cows has 

 been rapidly on the decrease the past year. Great numbers of wild horses have been 

 brought here from California and sold as low as $50 per span. They are tough and 

 hardy, and, when crossed with blooded stock, make the most serviceable animals for 

 this region. Large quantities of beef have been shipped here by rail, which has caused 

 the decline in cattle. Sevier: Mules not raised; increase in other stock from increase 

 in population, which is probably 25 per cent. 



Wasiiingtox. — Thurston : Cattle very low ; beef 2 to 5 cents ; horses low ; hogs ad- 

 vancing in price; bring 6 to 7 cents per pound. No sale for cows. Sheep higher than 

 last year. 



THE DOG WARFAEE. 



The warfare of dogs upon sheep still continues ; the direct losses are 

 a million of dollars annually, in wool and mutton, and, indirectly, even 

 a larger sum in the repression of sheep-husbandry, and the consequent 

 waste of a large percentage of the annual crop of grass ; a crop more 

 valuable than that of cotton or corn, throughout the Southern States 

 and elsewhere in all dog-cursed sections of the country. The canine war- 

 fare is a badge of vagabondage, an indication of savagery and lawless- 

 ness inconsistent with a progressive state of agriculture. In communi- 

 ties where " every poor man keeps a dog, and every very poor man 

 keeps two," the average legislative candidate dares not pledge himself 

 to vote for a dog-law. Until recently, only a few States in which wool- 

 growing is i)rominent had dog-laws, which is equivalent to saying that 

 the ideas on which our agriculture was based were primitive, and its 

 rural processes crude. Laws are now in force in a large proportion of 

 the States, and in several are quite efficient and protective. Farmers 

 are agitating for the passage of such laws in the remaining States. In 

 the Southern States the insane pursuit of cotton to the social ostracism 

 of every one who dared to produce meat or grow fruit, for many years 

 kept sheep-husbandry at the lowest ebb, while it was known by all in- 

 telligent men not stricken with the prevalent mania that millions of 

 acres of succulent grasses were annually lost in decay in all the south- 

 ern prairies, the open pine-forests, and the elevated glades of that sun- 

 ny region. There should at once be enacted there stringent laws for 

 protection against the ravages of dogs, quadruped and biped, black 

 and white. The result would in twenty years appear in a degree of 



