108 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



March, 1921. 



Wool Salesmanship on a National Basis 



A. A. MacMILLAN, Live Stock Brauch, Ottawa. 



The sheep indu.stry in Canada appears to be in a 

 very healthy condition. All through the war there 

 was a gradual expansion, but improvement kept 

 pace witli increase in population, and better i)rices 

 brought about by a closer study of sheep manage- 

 ment and methods of improvement. This j'ear, al- 

 Ihiiugh the wool market dropped back almost to prewar 

 prices, most of the clip was marketed before the real 

 drop came. Again the price of lambs remained 

 almost at a level of 1919 values, and this helped to 

 maintain confidence. A number of sheep men sold 

 out; tliese for the most part were plungers and are 

 now probably wishing they were back in again. In 

 Western Canada there is a growing tendency for 

 the homestead farmer to establish a small flock, so 

 that there does not seem to be any undue evidence 

 of i)anic, and there is every possibility that the sheep 

 industry will continue to expand in a normal healthy 

 fashion. 



The sheep breeders in the Dominion have brought 

 into being perhaps the most extensive and most effi- 

 cient marketing and selling agency for the sale of 

 any one agricultural product that exists anywhei'e 



in the world today. The extent of this organization 

 reaches from the most outlying point in P. E. I. on 

 the Atlantic Coast to the Islands of B. C. on the 

 Pacific Coast, and from the boundary line on the 

 south to the most northerly point where sheep are 

 kept. In its make-up it maintains the autonomy of 

 the local association, whether of county, district or 

 Provincial scope. In its business relations it mar- 

 kets wool for every province in the Dominion. In 

 its management each province plays a part in direct 

 proportion to the extent of its sheep industry, and 

 its patrons share its dividends in direct ratio to the 

 extent of their consignments. 



In these days of progressive co-operative activities 

 the growth and development of such an enterprise 

 is deserving of close study, especially when we con- 

 sider (1) that it came into being in a country that 

 at the time of its inception had scarcely three and 

 a half million sheep, (2) that sheep have never been 

 considered one of our most prominent classes of live 

 stock and (3) that the country itself is of tremen- 

 dous proportions, necessitating for many of the prov- 

 inces long and costly hauls by rail. In addition. 



Scene in the early stages of wool grading. 



