140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



SHEEP RAISING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



BT MR. FRANK P. BENNETT OF SADGDS. 



The number of sheep in the six New England States has 

 decreased from 3,820,307 in 1840 to 554,013 in 1900. In 

 other words, these six States contained, sixty years ago, 

 about seven times as many sheep as they possess to-day. 

 The total number of neat cattle in the six New England 

 States in 1840 was 1,545,272, and in 1900 was 1,411,852, 

 showing that the falling off' in cattle raising in New England 

 in these sixty years has been comparatively slight, as com- 

 pared with the decline in sheep husbandry. 



I have recently passed about two months in the sheep- 

 raising sections w^est of the Mississippi River, from Nebraska, 

 through Colorado and New Mexico, to Montana, Oregon, 

 California and Utah, visiting the herders, sleeping upon the 

 ranges and gathering information from large owners of sheep, 

 as well as from government reports and statistics ; and the 

 result of these inquiries has confirmed previous impressions, 

 that the time is ripe for the restoration of the 3,800,000 

 sheep or more which used to be owned in New England. 

 The great free ranges of the west are now fully stocked, and 

 are confronted with serious problems of their own respecting 

 future development. 



The heroic figure of the cowboy, the man on horseback, is 

 far less important in real life than in romance, and is con- 

 stantly being displaced on the public lands by the humble 

 and plodding sheep herder. The census of 1890 showed that 

 there were but 5,851,640 cattle upon the ranges of the United 

 States, against 51,303,572 upon farms; and even this small 

 percentage of range cattle must be taken to the farming 

 States, to be finally fattened and fully prepared for beef; and 

 it is the general belief that, if all the cattle were driven from 

 the free ranges of the United States, it would not have an 



