PEODUCTION OF WOOL. 11 



of the largest buyers in foreign markets. Again, on the Atlantic 

 seaboard there are millions of acres of land now useless that would, 

 if cleared and cultivated, make excellent sheep farms for the pro- 

 duction of the choicest mutton sheep. There are numberless salt 

 marshes upon which sheep, naturally fitted through long years of 

 adaptation for just such pasturage, could be made to yield mutton 

 of the most delicate flavor. There are also hills and rocky moun- 

 tains upon whose sweet herbage, hardy races of sheep could be 

 made to thrive with profit ; and further inland, highly cultivated 

 farms, where heavy crops of green fodder and roots could be raised, 

 that might carry flocks of large framed sheep, yielding combing 

 woo l now so much used in clothing materials for both sexes, 

 and the demand for which is always ahead of the supply. And 

 further south, where it is possible to pasture sheep the year 

 round, but where those which are now kept are so neglected 

 that some of them are never shorn, there is also vast room to 

 change the overdone cotton production for the equally easy but 

 more profitable production of wool which in that climate, by the 

 exercise of proper care, may be grown of the finest quality of 

 staple. What a vast field opens upon our view when we consider 

 the extent of the territory which we possess suitable for sheep cul- 

 ture ; and what profit and increase of national wealth is there in 

 this business to those who undertake it as the occupation of their 

 lives not only for a short period and intermittingly, and then to 

 be abandoned for some other temporary speculative business but 

 with a desire and determination to succeed through the exercise 

 of patience, perseverance, and skill. 



CHAPTER II. 

 SUMMER MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 



The selection of a suitable farm should be the first care of a 

 person who intends to devote his time and capital to the rearing 

 of sheep. To become a successful shepherd, requires that a person 

 should have a liking for the business, and possess tact, patience, 

 and perseverance sufficient to resist the temptations which may 

 arise at seasons of depression to abandon it for some other tempo- 

 rarily more promising pursuit. Having a determination to stick 



