No. 4.] SHEEP EAISING. 145 



subsequent to the civil war to 31,000,000 in 1871. The 

 number had risen again to 40,000,000 in 1880 and to 

 50,026,626 in 1884, which was the largest number of sheep 

 ever enumerated in the United States. In 1898 the number 

 had fallen to 36,818,643, since which time there has been an 

 increase to the present total of 41,883,065. If the number 

 of sheep in the United States again rises to 50,000,000 or 

 over, a considerable portion of the gain should be in the 

 New England States. 



The change in the wool clip of our country has not corre- 

 sponded fully with the change in the numbers of sheep, since 

 improvement by breeding and by better care has more than 

 doubled the weight of fleece ; but the consumption of mutton 

 and lamb for food purposes has undoubtedly increased in 

 greater ratio than our gain in population ; and yet we are liy 

 no means abreast of Great Britain in our consumption of 

 mutton per capita, since England not only consumes all of 

 the large meat production of its own flocks of sheep and 

 lambs, but is an enormous importer of mutton from Austral- 

 asia, the Argentine Republic and the United States. Some 

 splendid consignments of fat muttons and lambs are shipped 

 from Boston by nearly every steamer engaged in that class 

 of trade. 



If it were practicable to prohibit the slaughter of ewe lambs 

 in Massachusetts for a series of say five or ten years, we 

 could thereby re-establish our flocks. We have closed sea- 

 sons foi' deer and other wild animals in the various States ; 

 though of course a law to prohibit the marketing of ewe 

 lambs to the butcher would be viewed by many as sumptuary 

 legislation of a more extreme character than the prohibitory 

 liquor law or Sunday closing acts. In our rural districts 

 many of the inhabitants feel that they must sell their ewe 

 lambs, as well as everything else which they can profitably 

 turn into cash, before winter sets in ; hence they will keep 

 the same ewes year after year, and sell all their ewe laml)s, 

 until the old ewes are finally disposed of as " canncrs," that 

 is, to the various canning factories, at merely a nominal 

 price. If the ewe lambs could be retained, or sold to other 

 farmers who would keep them from the butcher, the flocks 

 of New England would increase rapidly ; but, in order to 



