WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 893 



PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND OBSERVATION. 



Experience is the best criterion for demonstrating the adaptability 

 of any particular country for any branch of industry. The writer has 

 taken pains to collect information showing what has been the experience 

 of sheep-owners, as well as their observations and opinions regarding 

 the business. 



The following paragraphs represent the different sections of Arkan- 

 sas and will furnish practical pointers regarding the industry which 

 are graphic illustrations of certain features of the business, such as 

 are difficult to show briefly in any other manner. They contain much 

 information in little space, and will bear careful perusal by those who 

 desire pertinent information regarding the sheep industry of Arkansas. 



John K. Gibson, Powhatan, Lawrence County: 



The sheep industry in Arkansas has had a backset for some years past, but within 

 a few years the people have taken an interest in the industry prompted by the high 

 price of the mutton, as well as by reason of the profits in the wool grown. The 

 sheep as a scavenger for brambly and ugly thickets is beginning to be prized. Sheep 

 will eat and destroy grass and shrubs that no other grazing animal will. I think 

 our climate and country are well adapted to sheep-raising, and it would prove a great 

 success if handled scientifically. 



Frank Fealy, Charleston, Franklin County : 



In 1875 I purchased in the northern part of this State 455 sheep, and turned them 

 out on good prairie range. The next year I sold 76 of them for mutton at $2 per 

 head ; and in 1879 I sold 210 mature sheep and 80 lambs for $700, and then quit the 

 business because dogs were too numerous for the sheep business. During the four 

 years I owned sheep I enriched my orchard with the carcasses of 65 worthless sheep- 

 killing curs. 



M. A. Harper, Gurdon, Clark County: 



Most farmers have a few sheep and let them run out in old fields, and pay but 

 little attention to them, letting them shift for themselves, and only feeding three or 

 four months of the year. Some of the farmers shelter their sheep, while others do 

 not. Sheep would do well in this State, especially in the hilly and mountain por- 

 tion, but will not do so well in the bottoms or lowlands, except where the land has 

 been generally cultivated or in tame pasture. 



J, L. Bowen, Stark, Yell County: 



My experience with sheep is that I lost the best opportunity I ever had when I 

 sold out for the purpose of raising cotton, and as soon as I can make another start I 

 will try it again. The cross of the common native sheep with full-blood Merino is 

 the best, as you double the increase of the weight of wool and carcass. In Faulk- 

 ner County, where I formerly lived, there are larger flocks than in Yell County, 

 although we have the advantage of free range and cheap lauds. Mutton and wool 

 can be purchased cheaper here than in any place I have ever lived. 



E. D. Kickey, Carlisle, Lonoke County: 



I have lived here seventeen years, and previously in Ohio and Michigan. The 

 sheep industry here practically amounts to nothing. I am about the only sheep- 

 owner that has kept good the original number I started with. Eight years ago I 

 brought 200 young Cotswold ewes here from Elyria, Ohio, and used the best Merino 



