116 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



In 1890 the whole number by the assessors' returns was 

 45,899 ; the breeds are not given. Since 1865 the decrease 

 has been gradual every year, and almost invariable. What 

 was the cause or what were the causes that produced this 

 unprecedented decline in an industry pleasant and profitable? 



Decrease in Number of Sheep. 

 Those who know nothing of the subject confidently assert 

 some one reason ; those who have studied the matter don't 

 pretend to know, but suppose that all the causes assigned 

 may, combined, have produced the effect for which no one 

 alone can be regarded adequate. Among the causes assigned 

 are the operation and the fluctuation of the tariff; the 

 greatly increased importation of wool from Australia, New 

 Zealand, South America and other foreign countries ; the 

 introduction of shoddy (invented in 1803) to a large extent 

 some years later ; the enormously increased importation, by 

 enlarged railway facilities, of sheep and lambs from the 

 West ; the great increase of the dairy industry in milk, 

 cream and butter; the destruction of sheep by dogs ; the 

 diminution of flocks induced by the decay of fences. The 

 first three of these alleged causes for the decrease of our 

 flocks apply especially to loss in the past, while the last four 

 show reasons which act against the revival of this industry. 

 I pass lightly over these, as, in the talk which will follow 

 this paper, these alleged causes will be more fully and satis- 

 factorily considered, and this will form the most valuable 

 part of this meeting. 



Importation of Sheep from the West. 



One of the most important causes for the decrease of our 

 own home-grown sheep for the slaughter for mutton and 

 lamb has been the great influx of these animals from the 

 West, from Canada and from other States, for killing and 

 not for breeding nor the production of wool, induced by the 

 vastly increased railway facilities showing a large advance in 

 the demand for mutton and lamb in our markets. 



At Brighton, on the week before Christmas, 1839, two 

 Franklin County men held four hundred sheep, every one in 

 the market ; yet, so ample was that supply and so inactive 



