Seyi eS a4 7 . ; Fury 
¥ " 
Vas 
- §64 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
\ ‘ 
There has been a further decline in numbers of sheep, amounting — 
to between 2 and 3 per cent., the aggregate number being abouts: 4 
43,500,000. There has also been some change of pastures. Someof — 
the Texas flock-masters have sent considerable numbers to New Mex- 
ico. There has been for several years a deportation of sheep from 
Pennsylvania to the cheaper grasses of the far West. — 
The decline in swine has been slight, averaging less than 1 per 
cent., leaving the aggregate over 44,000,000. The ravages of disease - 
in States below the latitude of 40°, where hogs are kept in large num- 
bers, have been severe in many places. ; 
— The total number of domestic animals of ranch and farmare thus | 
stated, in comparison with the estimates of last year: 
— 
Stock. 1887. 193,- || ae 
TPS ieee oe Bes ot etnies) San Tale BR Rat ah 9. 12,496,744 | 13,172,936 | + 676,192 
tiles wih AAD) cae won een ie oe acento SIS SO Sat 2,117, 141 2,191,727 | + 74,586 
i Rife yeah Moe geet cae Op Don ASS CES Oe abe ateoe podedboodnnscocdcn 14, 522, 083 14,856,414 | + 834,331° 
Oxenvandiothereahilencenaseeciin- che seals onestmecee ap Seis 33,511, 750 34,378,363 | + 866,613 
SLTDa Oe ete, US Agctooce colieoes nansee sep sheascanaptiog = sce 44, 759, 314 43,544,755 | —1, 214,559 
RES AA aks Don ee RL ee eer Marat ee, en A Ge Rl > | 44,612,886 | 44,346,525 | — ,31l 
VALUES. , 
The values of farm animals, those of cattle excepted, have changed 
very little in the past year. The average for swine has advanced . 
about 10 per cent. The difference in the averages for horses, mules, 
and sheep are veryslight. The rise in value in horses since 1879 has, __ 
been the most noticeable feature in farm-stock values. The highest 
rices of the inflation period were reached in 1869, averaging $84.16, 
declining from that date to the lowest ebb of agricultural depression 
in 1879 to $52.41. The present price is nearly that of 1874, and does 
not differ much from the value of 1869 reduced to gold, showing that 
the price of horses is now relatively high, and furnishing a solid 
reason for the increase in numbers, and tor the frequent expression 
of correspondents that horses and mules pay the stock-grower better 
than any other class of animals. There is another good reason for 
the unyielding prices of horses in a time of general shrinkage of 
values, viz, the improvement in quality by thoroughbred blood, and 
especially the increase of weight by the general distribution of French 
and English draft horses. 
Cattle were highest in 1869, $25.12 in 1870, declining until 1879 to | 
$15.39, then rising annually to 1884, the average being $23.52, and 
declining constantly since, standing now at $17.79. This is higher 
than at the lowest depression, and at the gold value about the same 
as at the commencement of the monetary panic of 1873. 
From 1879 to 1884 the annual estimates of prices of milch cows and 
other cattle advanced yearly, and the decline has since been uninter- 
rupted, without exception, for either class of stock. The fall in 
milch cows has been from $26.08 to $24.65, over 5 per cent.; and in 
oxen and other cattle from $19.79 to $17.79, a decline of 10 per cent. 
in the last year. 
In sheep, as in other stock, the annual advance was quite steady 
after 1879 and amounted to 22 per cent. in four years. rom 1883 to 
1886 the decline was over 25 per cent., or from $2.53 to $1.91. The 
next year’s average was $2.01, and the present average $%.00, OF _ 
