428 Transactions of the American Institute. 



The Chairman — That is the most convincing argument I ever heard 

 on that subject. 



Mr. Bruen — Many of our farmers have not enough feed for their 

 animals, and so must economize by cooking ; they thus make the 

 feed go twice as far as if eaten raw. 



Mr. John Crane — When corn is worth only twenty-five cents a 

 bushel it will not pay to cook it. Hay or straw, with corn meal and 

 cotton-seed meal, will keep stock in good condition without cooking. 



A member — If these scraggy cattle are fed on good sweet hay 

 and a peck of roots apiece every clay, in the spring they will be 

 healthy and strong. Horses and cattle must have roots or they will 

 get into bad condition. 



Mr. Frank D. Curtis read a paper before the club on 



Sheep Husbandry and the Tariff — No Reduction. 



Whenever wool commands an average price of less than fifty cents 

 per pound it is grown in the eastern States at a loss to the producer. 

 For the years 1866, 1867, 1868, 1869 a large proportion of farmers 

 received less than fifty cents a pound for their wool, and under these 

 discouraging results slaughtered their sheep by the thousands, went 

 into the business of making pork and beef and butter and cheese, 

 creating an excess of those staples, and forcing the market for meats 

 down to ruinous prices. This wholesale sacrifice of sheep and pro- 

 portionate reduction in the quantity produced cleared the markets of 

 the surplus wool, and stimulated prices so that for 1871 an average 

 of at least ten cents a pound increased price has been obtained, with a 

 prospect of ten cents more for 1872. These prices will pay, and 

 enable the farmers of the United States to compete with the pauper 

 colonies and labor of England and the uncivilized portions of South 

 America, where the favorable climate and reduced cost of production 

 offset our improved culture and skill in a climate and under an 

 expense for labor which more than doubles the cost of production. 

 Congress very wisely imposed a protecting duty on wool and woolens 

 when the great depression in this important industry was manifest, 

 and now, when there is a prospect of paying prices, it is, in our judg- 

 ment, unwisely proposed to reduce the tariff on imported wools ten 

 per cent, thus destroying at once the small margin upon which the busi- 

 ness of wool-growing and sheep-husbandry depend for success in the 

 future. 



I shall make no extended argument to show the necessity of 

 fostering this great industry, which is more important to the masses 



