icn they were worth $4.12 per head, while on Jan. 1, 1916, they were 

 >rth $5.17 5 per head. 



Even with the decrease in numbers of sheep, their value has in- 

 ised, due to a growing appreciation of mutton as food. The aver- 

 age value on the world's greatest market (Chicago), for 1915, was 

 $6.40 per cwt. for sheep and $9.05 for lambs, an increase of 80 cents 

 per cwt. for sheep and $1.15 per cwt. for lambs, over 1914 average. 6 

 The question may properly be asked, "Why have mutton and wool 

 production decreased?" The decrease has been largely due in the west 



Fig. 1. Sheep graze on steep hills. 



the "gradual encroachment of agriculture" on grazing lands, "and 

 consequent increase in the cost of sheep raising." 7 

 The fact that the United States imported 263,928,000 s pounds of 

 wool in 1910, and 308,083,000 pounds of raw wool in 1915, dem- 

 onstrates that there is a great demand for w r ool. Pennsylvania ranks 

 second to Massachusetts in the United States in the production of 

 woolen goods. There were 104 establishments, employing 7,207 per- 

 sons, and the industry was capitalized at $15,811,911, in Pennsylvania, 

 m 1909. 



5 U. S. Crop Report, January 31, 1916. 



G Chicago Live Stock World. 



7 Report of Tariff Board, Vol. 2, page 302. 



^Census Report, 1910. 



''Yearbook 1915, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



