No. 4.J SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 139 



lie meeting that I have ever attended in which this question 

 was discussed, that the whole matter was not met at the outset 

 by the cry, ' ' We cannot keep sheep on account of dogs. " We 

 have not heard that here to-day, and I take it that the farmers 

 of Massachusetts have got to the point where they consider that 

 they can keep sheep if they choose to do so, dogs or no 

 dogs. They have also made up their minds that they can- 

 not prevail any further with the Legislature of Massachusetts 

 than we went during my term as secretary, when we had the 

 law very largely amended in our favor ; and we now have as 

 favorable a law on our side in this Commonwealth as we can 

 expect to have, or, I may say, as we are entitled to have. 



I am glad to talk upon the sheep question; but I do 

 not propose to discuss our old Arab friend particularly, 

 because I do not recognize that the tariff upon wool 

 has much to do with the sheep husbandry of Massa- 

 chusetts. We do not raise wool enough to make it at all 

 important to us what the tariff is. I once said, amid the 

 jeers of a good many men who ought to have known better, 

 that the farmers in the States west of the Mississippi River, — 

 I stated it on the floor of the House of Representatives, and 

 it is in the congressional record, — that the farmers west of 

 the Mississippi River could afford to keep sheep if wool 

 was worth no more than hen feathers. Having said that 

 there, I can say here that it is immaterial what the tariff is. 

 I might add to that, as a sort of snapper, that when wool 

 was free in 1859 it was worth more money in all parts of 

 the United States, considering the value of money at that 

 time, than it had ever been before, and worth more money 

 than it has been since 1867 under a high tariff. The secre- 

 tary says, "or ever will be in the future." That may 

 be, too. I am glad to get a good price for my wool, 

 of course ; but I do not reckon the wool as an absolute 

 necessity of my sheep keeping. I should keep my sheep 

 first for lambs, second for mutton, next for the improvement 

 of my pastures and the manure that I could get out of the 

 sheds ; then if I get $125 or $150 for my wool, that is so 

 much addition to my profits. I agree with the gentlemen 

 who have spoken here who have kept sheep, as I have, for 

 some years, that there is a constant annual profit ; not a daily 



