Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 449 



that will live to be counted as sheep, in August. This is not up to the 

 actual experience of General Montoya, but they are outside figures 

 of course. In May, 1872, the 1,000 ewes are clipped, yielding 2,000 

 pounds of wool. In October and November, 1872, there are 2,800 

 to clip for 5,000 pounds of wool. Supposing we have 750 young 

 ewes, we will have in the spring of 1873, old and young, 1,750 ewes 

 to drop upwards of 2,625 lambs. In May, 1873, we clip from our 

 flock of 2,500 another crop of 5,000 pounds, and at the clipping of 

 October, 1872, our flock, amounting to 5,125 sheep, turns off 10,250 

 pounds. So before the two years are complete we have a flock of 

 5,125 sheep worth two dollars each, and will have clipped 22,250 

 pounds of wool. Taking stock in January, 1871:, we have : 



5,125 sheep worth two dollars each $105 250 00 



22,250 pounds wool at thirty-five cents 7? 787 50 



Total $18,037 50 



Don't forget the original outlay of $1,000. These are immense 

 profits, but sheep-men are beginning to figure beyond them. They 

 say that the introduction of Cotswold bucks will more than double 

 the yield of w T ool and the weight of carcass. Of course, where the 

 cost of food is absolutely nothing, we need not be afraid of big sheep 

 because they eat more than small ones. 



Mr. II. T. Williams — In our excursion this season to the Rocky 

 Mountains, we found in the midst of the south part, in the very heart 

 of the mountain range, 150 miles away from all post-offices or rail- 

 road communication, a Frenchman, Yankee-like in disposition and 

 money-making. He had a ranche of 1,600 acres, where he raised 

 about 1,500 sheep and 300 cattle. The year round he and his wife- 

 made butter and stored it ; then, in the spring, he takes his stock,, 

 goes to the provinces of Mexico and New Mexico, sells it for the 

 enormous price of ninety cents per pound, reinvests his money in 

 sheep at the bare cost of fifty cents per head, drives them home, feeds 

 them one or two years, fats them up, and then sells for three dollars 

 to five dollars per head for mutton ; in the meantime having clipped 

 enough wool to pay for expenses and the original cost of the flock. 

 It is the shrewdest business transaction I ever knew. During one 

 journey we came upon several sheep ranches at other elevated portions, 

 many of them 2,000 to 5,000 feet above the level of the plains, or an 

 altitude of 12,000 to 15,000 feet above the level of the ocean, and the 

 uniform testimony was that the sheep lived through the winter with- 



[Inst.] 29 



