POLITICAL UNREST IN SHEEP COUNTRIES 15 



mutton, has been the main factor in the steady growth of the sheep 

 industry in spite of such difficulties as periodic drouths, ravages by 

 rabbits, and lack of transportation lines extending far into the 

 interior. The government is fostering the industry and those en- 

 gaged in it are investing money to protect themselves against rab- 

 bits and to prevent excessive losses in years of drouth. 



Sheep Raising in New Zealand. Sheep were not taken into 

 New Zealand until 1840, which was shortly after the first settle- 

 ment established there by Europeans. Merinos exclusively were im- 

 ported in the beginning, but as the needs of the trade developed, 

 mutton breeds were introduced and it was found that they did 

 unusually well. After 1882, the year in which the first shipment of 

 frozen mutton was made from the country, the mutton breeds gained 

 on the Merinos so rapidly that by 19,10 the wool from pure Merinos 

 did not form over three per cent of the total clip. 



Density of Sheep Population. New Zealand has less than 

 twice the area of the state of Illinois, and yet in 1910 she reported 

 23,792,947 sheep. Think what a dense sheep population that is as 

 compared with similar areas anywhere in our own country ! Mutton 

 is the staple meat in New Zealand. It is even more common in the 

 private homes of both country and city, and in public eating places 

 than is beef in our own country. 



Practically all sheep in New Zealand are managed under the 

 " paddock/' or " fencing/' system. This is also true of Australia. 

 Many of the fences are rabbit proof and cost about four hundred 

 dollars per mile. As a general practice, the herding system char- 

 acteristic of our sheep industry in the West ceased in Australia and 

 New Zealand in the latter part of the last century. 



Sheep Raising in South America. At the time of the con- 

 quest of Peru there already existed a breed of supposedly indigenous 

 sheep possessing enough good about them to be prized by the Incas 

 Indians and by the conquering Spaniards. Gibson tells us that wool 

 was first exported from the River Plate as early as the year 1000. 

 However, the beginning of an extensive sheep husbandry in South 

 America did not come until a much later time. 



Political Unrest in Leading Sheep Countries. The great 

 sheep countries in South America are the Argentine Republic and 

 Uruguay. In 1813 a shipment of pure Spanish Merinos arrived in 

 the province of Buenos Aires. Upon this shipment was founded 

 the first flock of improved Merinos in South America. Although 



