INTRODUCTION 25 



profit in sheep breeding, intelligently done. I have 

 seen with keen delight whole neighborhoods in Michi- 

 gan and Ohio where each farm held its flock, where 

 great barns were stored with forage, the ewes be- 

 neath, and close by stood comfortable farmhouses in 

 which I found intelligent and often cultured shep- 

 herd folk. The future holds no menace but hope in- 

 stead. Should wool tariffs be lowered there might 

 possibly be a small decrease in the numbers of sheep 

 in the West. This would in ultimate effect cause 

 mutton values considerably to enhance, so while pos- 

 sibly the American consumer might get his woolen 

 clothing cheaper the sheep-farmer would receive as 

 much for his output of wool and mutton as ever be- 

 fore, and it might well be that he would receive 

 more. With all tariff duties removed, we might pos- 

 sibly sell wool for 15 cents per pound, as they do 

 in Canada, if at the same time mutton prices were 

 enhanced, which in the long run they would assured- 

 ly be. While the fleece of the ewe might bring us 70 

 cents less, the lamb would bring us from 85 cents to 

 $1.70 more, and the income from the farm flock be 

 increased. The lesson is clear. No matter what ups 

 and downs the sheep market may see in the near 

 future, the wise sheep-owner is the one who stays 

 with his flock and seeks only to make it better and 

 healthier than before. His reward is assured. 



One of the interesting results of my investigation 

 of the practices of sheep-farmers in Ohio, Michigan 

 and the South was that experience seems against the 

 keeping of large flocks in those regions except for 



