622 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



lawns can go uncut, as has been the case this past sum- 

 mer with more than one college campus which is nor- 

 mal times was kept trim and neat. It would have been 

 a patriotic as well as a picturesque sight for a flock of 

 sheep to have gone moving back and forth between 

 the dormitories and the classroom halls. 



Not only during the days of the war but in the long 



WHERE OUR WOOL COMES FROM 



Sheep add to the attractiveness of any landscape. Poets have sung of them; artists have painted them. 

 But it is because of their practical value today that people ar> ur^od to "Match the President" and go 

 in for sheep raising on their estates as he is doing on the White House grounds. 



hard reconstruction days which will follow and when 

 there will be still a shortage of food and of material, 

 sheep can play an important part in su; plying some of 

 the needs of the country. The individual or the official 

 organization that buys a few sheep now and puts them 

 to grazing on idle pasturage, whether it be front lawn, 

 public or private park, golf links or other similar space, 

 will find after the war that it is a profitable investment, 

 in the matter of dollars and cents and in other ways as 

 well. 



It is impossible not to consider the sentimental value 

 of a flock of sheep serenely grazing on a velvety carpet 

 of grass or winding their unconcerned way through the 

 trees of a fine grove, cleaning up the track over which 

 they have moved. Sheep have been the subject of song 

 and poetry. "I heard the sheep-bells ringing on the 

 Downs," the poet sings. They have been a favorite 

 subject for painters and have been immortalized by many 

 of the world's greatest artists of the brush. Ever since the 

 days of David who sang of the flocks which he tended, 

 sheep have been held in a sort of kindly regard by man. 

 Their submissive innocence, which is best summed up 

 in the fine Biblical phrase, "led as a sheep to the slaugh- 

 ter," combined with their pastoral beauty, has always 

 made man look upon sheep with a pleased eye. 



Nevertheless, as Richard Le Gallienne so well says, 

 "who can doubt that the farmers are right and that" sheep 

 were made to be fleeced and eaten, and for no other 

 more transcendental purpose at all?" Certainly for 



the time being, at least, the "transcendental purpose" 

 of sheep if there be any such raison d'etre in their 

 branch of the animal kingdom must be put aside for 

 the utilitarian service which they can perform for man- 

 kind. This is by furnishing food and clothing and by 

 being lawn mowers. 

 Before embarking in the enterprise of raising sheep indi- 

 viduals are advised by the ani- 

 mal husbandry division of the 

 United States Department of 

 Agriculture to seek information 

 on the technical side of the ques- 

 tion so that there may be no 

 wasted effort. The division has 

 a number of publications on the 

 subject and has announced that 

 it will be glad to answer any 

 questions. The belief has been 

 expressed, however, by officials 

 of the Department that this rais- 

 ing of sheep on lawns and small 

 parks can be of real practical 

 value. 



A recent statement by the De- 

 partment says that persons who 

 desire to raise sheep are advised 

 to enter the industry with a view 

 of staying for several years at 

 least. The gross annual returns 

 from the ewes of breeding age 

 may be expected to range from $8 to $15 a head, depend- 

 ing upon the percentage of lambs raised, the weight of 

 the fleece and the value of these products. The fleece 

 from one sheep averages five to eight pounds and is 

 now selling for from fifty to sixty-five cents a pound. 

 The ewes with good management will each raise a lamb. 



A HISTORIC BACKGROUND 



The President's flock of sheep graze benignly away over the beautiful 

 sloping lawn of the White House, indifferent to their surroundings. 

 Since the Nation's Chief Executive entered the "sheep business," others 

 with spacious lawns about their homes are following his example. 



