734 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Probably half my sheep were really fat right after lambing. The grass com- 

 menced growing this spring rather earlier than usual, which has helped the sheep 

 through the lambing season. 



TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL. 



Most persons unfamiliar with North Dakota have erroneous ideas as 

 to the temperature and the character of the winter. The popular im- 

 pression of nonresidents is that the winters are of unusual duration 

 and severity, and that blizzards are of frequent occurrence during the 

 winter season, and that unless both men and live stock are carefully 

 housed from four to six months there is no certainty of surviving the 

 winter. It is, therefore, supposed that the risks, expense, and hard 

 ships incident to winter make live-stock husbandry an extremely haz- 

 ardous undertaking in this northern region. Nothing could be more 

 erroneous. It is true that North Dakota is nearer the Arctic regions 

 than Iowa or Nebraska, yet, as a matter of fact, there is no more risk 

 under similar methods, and the mortality of live stock is no greater in 

 the former than in the latter States. Wintering stock in North Dakota 

 is attended with certain disadvantages, and yet every other State south 

 to Texas has certain other disadvantages that offset those which apply 

 to North Dakota. 



The official records of temperature and precipitation for the year 

 1889, which can be taken as an average year, as observed at Bismarck, 

 Fort Buford, Moorhead, St. Vincent, Davenport, Fort Abraham Lin- 

 coln, Fort Pernbina, Fort Totten, Fort Yates, Gallatin, and New Eng- 

 land City, show that the average mean temperature for the year at all 

 these points was a fraction over 40 F. The maximum temperature 

 was mainly during the month of August, and the average was a little 

 in excess of 100 F. The minimum temperature, average for all points 

 named, was a trifle less than 36 below zero, and at each of these places 

 it was reached during the month of February. 



The average annual precipitation of rain and melted snow for all the 

 places mentioned where the records were kept was 10.17 inches. As 

 the greater portion of the precipitation occurs during the growing 

 season, the winters are comparatively dry and free from storms or 

 damp weather, and prevailing sunshine is the rule. The extreme 

 weather comes in the latter part of the winter when stock have become 

 inured to the cold, and if they are properly fed will readily withstand , 

 it without any unusual loss, unless caught in a sudden and blinding 

 storm when out on the open range and at too great a distance from 

 winter quarters. This, however, does not often occur in the case of 

 prudent and experienced flockmasters. 



NUMBERS AND VALUES. 



The recent separation of Dakota into two States, and the imperfect 

 system of collecting official statistics by the State authorities, have 



