THE FUTURE OF SHEEP FARMING. 185 



CHAPTER XIX. 

 THE FUTURE OF SHEEP FARMING. 



IF any kind of farming may be expected to pay, even in the 

 present times of depression, it should be sheep farming. In 

 spite of New Zealand and Australian mutton, the home-grown 

 commodity keeps up its value, while only a short time ago 

 store sheep were at a premium, which was rather discon- 

 certing to the grazier. Lamb buyers ought, however, to 

 remember that they also have had their turn in the low prices 

 which formerly prevailed, and previous to that date, when 

 winter grazing must have paid particularly well. The price 

 of sheep no doubt fluctuates, but it does so with the home 

 demand for stock, and the home supply of keep. If keep 

 is scarce, down comes the value of sheep, but with a return 

 of genial showers and quick growth, the price rebounds 

 with wonderful elasticity. How long this will continue, or 

 whether it will always continue, are difficult questions. Pro- 

 fessor Wallace says a day of tribulation is coming, but there 

 is comfort in the thought that Australia and New Zealand 

 are not newly discovered countries, and that the same report 

 has been used to alarm us for twenty years, and yet we find 

 mutton selling, as carcases, at 8d. per Ib. 



The great safeguards against depreciation in the value of 

 sheep appear to be: (i) Their diminished number in Europe, 

 as well as in England, which, although recently checked, is 

 distinct enough to those who study statistics of live stock 



