22 



wealth to which this section has never before attained, for it would rev- 

 olutionize and vitalize the entire agriculture of this section. 



We have repeatedly attempted to gather some of the items of loss by 

 this scourge. In our stock-returns of this month there are reports from 

 five hundred counties, with some losses reported, of course not all oc- 

 curring, but they make an aggregate of 79,285 sheep killed during the 

 past year, in counties holding one-fourth of the territory, and nearly 

 one-fourth of the sheep of the United States. In twenty-four counties 

 in Ohio, 6,517 are reported killed, or four-tenths of one per cent, of the 

 sheep. This is probably not more than one-half the real number, as the 

 State report of Ohio for 1873 makes the loss for that year 35,440, or 

 seventy-seven hundredths of one per cent, of total numbers. Besides 

 this, 35,124 were injured in that year by dogs, entailing a loss of $47,210 

 in addition to $110,044 for those killed outright. 



It is very evident that the real losses by dogs amount to one and one- 

 fourth per cent, of the value of the sheep in Ohio, and more than two per 

 cent, throughout the country, or $1,000,000. The i)ercentage of loss 

 is vastly greater in States where no efdcient laws exist. As far as the 

 territory is reported on in these January returns, (as shown in the accom- 

 panying table,) the annual losses in Florida amount to 11 per cent, of 

 value; Arkansas, 6 ; Georgia, 5.16 ; Tennessee, 4.6; Kansas, 3.8; Vir- 

 ginia, 3.4; Missouri, 2.2. In protected States : Ohio, four-tenths of one 

 per cent. ; New York, three-tenths. The reported losses are as follows, 

 which do not include the maimed or iniured: "■• .""M" 



states. 



Maine 



New Hampshire 



Vermont 



Massacliusetts . . 



Connecticut 



New York 



New Jersey 



Pennsylvania . . . 



Delaware 



Maryland 



Virginia 



North Carolina . 

 South Carolina.. 



Georgia 



Plorida 



Alabama 



Mississippi 



Louisiana 



Texas 





©a 

 a 



704 



751 



525 



190 



231 



2,693 



243 



3,878 



150 



1, 222 



4,205 



5,503 



925 



3, 363 



458 



1,910 



1,764 



466 



1,144 



o g2 



59, 635 



97, 767 

 262, 544 



33, 879 



46, 398 

 858, 845 



15, 352 



820, 406 



5,316 



49, 981 

 127, 952 

 162, 463 



13, 451 



65, 131 

 4, 021 



44, 137 



43, 421 

 9, 723 



61, 060 



Arkansas 



Tennessee 



West Virginia 



Kentucky 



Ohio 



Michigan 



Indiana 



Illinois 



Wisconsin 



Minnesota 



Iowa 



Missouri 



Kansas 



Nebraska 



California 



Oregon 



Total.... 



36, 984 

 248, 595 

 185, 257 

 277,382 

 1, 523, 074 

 810, 576 

 415, 674 

 398, 711 

 262, 171 



28,451 

 203, 841 

 585, 027 



23, 497 



1.435 



681, 146 



109,441 



8, 572, 744 



The losses in detail are thus reported. If loo many or too few, we 

 should be glad to recive corrections : 



Maine: Waldo, 100; Lincoln, 450; York; 154; total, 704; total number of sheep in 

 these counties in 1870, 59,635. 



New HampsUre : Cheshire, 200 ; Sullivan, 30 ; Strafford, 121 ; Coos, 200; Carroll, 200; 

 total, 751 ; number of nheep, 97,767. 



V'rmont : Rutland, 250 ; Washington, 30 ; Chittenden, 40 ; Caledonia, 125 ; Lamoille, 

 6; Grand Isle, 24 ; Addison, 50 ; total, 525 ; number of sheep, 262,-544. 



Massachusetts: Dukes, 15; Berkshire, 100; Plymouth, 75; total, 190 ; number of 

 Bheep, 33,879. 



Connecticut: Litchfield, 100; New Loudon, 35; Hartford, 96; total, 231; number of 

 sheep, 46,398. 



New I'oric : Delaware, 200 ; Tompkins, 320 ; Steuben, 119; Rensselaer, 95 ; Schuyler, 



