479 
clip of the first year alone. The expense of keep is estimated at $765, 
leaving $918 for investment in 50 high-grade rams. The second year, 
then, will open with 7,500 ewes and 2,650 rams. If the former again 
double there are 15,000 sheep at the end of the second year, of which 
11,250 will be ewes and 6,400 rams and wethers. Of these 10,150 will 
shear about 3 pounds per head, or 30,450 pounds of improved quality, 
which at 28 cents per pound bring $8,526. At this point 2,500 yearling 
wethers may be sold for enough to purchase 1,600 ewes and 100 rams. 
This will give at the commencement of the third year 12,850 ewes and 
4,000 rams and wethers, or 16,850 sheep in all. By converting wethers 
into valuable rams and ewes the process may be continued, if judicious 
regard be had to all the circumstances. Another element of profit is 
found in the fact that the fleece improves in price in proportion as it in- 
creases in weight. These figures are said to be indications of what has 
been successfully achieved in New Mexico. The Angora goat will do as 
well here as in any part of the world. The native Mexicans employ the 
ass and common goat, the former for transportation and the latter for 
milk and cheese. Horses and cattle would do as well as sheep. 
The agricultural interest will also find a home market when the im- 
mense mining facilities of New Mexico are fully developed. Gold and 
silver deposits, both placer and vein mines, are extensive and valuable. 
Copper and brown hematite iron are inviting extended and _profit- 
able working. Salt oceurs in beds and ia lakes in different parts of the 
Territory. Timberis mostly confined to the mountain districts and high 
rolling lands. Pitch, yellow and sprace pine, cottonwood, walnut, lo- 
cust, box-alder, and sugar-tree fringe the streams and catons of the 
mountains. A small species of live-oak and a peculiar kind of cedar, 
called juniper, grow well on the southern uplands. The nut-pine or 
pifion is abundant and makes excellent fuel. 
SHEEP-RAISING, OREGON.—Mr. W. T. Newby, of Yamhill County, 
Oregon, in response to a letter of the Commissioner, gives the following 
statistics regarding sheep-husbandry in his State. The State census of 
1875 gave the number of sheep at 539,600, which evidently included 
lambs. The aggregate wool-product was 1,863,002 pounds. 
The breeds represented range all the way from the poorest to the very 
best of the highly improved varieties. Thorough-bred merinos are of 
Spanish, French, American, and Australian origin, but Mr. Newby 
thinks that none except the Spanish are thorough-bred, the others being 
really but grades of that stock. All varieties of the merino are well 
adapted to the climate and circumstances of Oregon. Spanish rams 
range from 16 to 30 pounds per head of unwashed wool; but a ram 
that does not shear over 20 or 25 pounds is not considered of much 
value. Spanish ewes range from 10 to 18 pounds. This breed is suited 
to large flocks, and_are supposed to be healthier and more cheaply fed 
than any other. They are not so good mutton-sheep as the other varie- 
ties, yet they are fair in this respect, aud will average from 45 to 55 
pounds per carcase when dressed. But as wool-producers Mr. Newby 
thinks the Spanish merinos have no equal. They are short, well 
formed, of excellent condition, and longer lived than other varieties. 
With fair treatment they also carry their wool longer, seldom losing a 
lock of wool from one shearing time to another; they sometimes carry 
their fleeces two or three years without shearing. 
French merinoes are becoming unpopular and disappearing from the 
flocks. They are too flat and “legged,” and of feeble constitution. 
Their fleeces are uneven, some parts being fine and others coarse. At 
three years of age the wool becomes harsh and dry, the lubricating oil 
