publications of the year makes the total 544 382 049. Another 

 gives 482 884 528 as the grand total. Flaws are evident in the 

 compilation of both sets and although implicit reliance need not 

 be put in either, note may be taken of the lower estimate of the 

 two. Dalgety e & Co., Ltd., the largest handlers of Australian 

 wool, compare the figures at latest date with those of 1895. Their 

 summary follows: 



SHEEP 



Latest date 1895 



Europe and Russia, in Asia 



(chiefly 1904-907) . . . 177330608 198194214 



Australasia (1908) .... 109345967 110516331 



South America (chiefly 1908) 91187013 102 847 134 



North America (chiefly 1907) 59 252 721 57 158 652 



Africa (chiefly 1904) . . . 27764492 31890052 



Asia (chiefly 1904). . . . 18003727 21957752 



Total . . . 482884528 522564135 



Loss of Sheep, 39 679 609 ; approx. 7 x / a per cent. 



In comment on these figures it can be said that the total cannot 

 possibly be right, altough the comparison may indicate the general 

 trend of things more or less faithfully. Holland (with over 600000 

 sheep), Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, Tibet, and China are all missing 

 from the account and except by guesswork their flocks cannot be 

 estimated. The table shows a decline in Europe of 2 1 million head 

 inside a period of about 13 years. Sheep culture in the old or 

 industrial countries palpably is declining; Germany, which had 

 25 million sheep in 1870, had 8 million in 1904. So far as concerns 

 number of head, expansion in the new countries does not counter- 

 balance contraction in the old. 



Number of sheep is not everything in considering the supply 

 of wool. The general influence of improved breeding methods is 

 to increase the yield per animal. Thus in Australasia a century 

 ago the clip was about 3 pounds per sheep ; last season's average 

 was 6 pounds 14 ounces. Last season 1000 fleeces made 20,92 

 bales and in 1896-97 only 16,75 bales. 



On many stations the average fleece weighed ten pounds and 

 in Australia, Argentina and even South Africa they are now breeding 

 from merino sires that give 20 pounds of wool in shearing and 

 from Lincolns which give 30 pounds. The very break-up of large 



