WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 829 



taxpayers of the whole State. Sheep can't live there now on account of the wolves. 

 Pigs can't be raised there on account of the wolves, and chickens and turkeys must 

 every night roost very high, as though Thanksgiving day were to follow. Really 

 it is a stain, a foul stigma, on the civilization and the enterprise of the people of 

 Iowa that these wolves remain and are frequently seen crossing the best cultivated 

 farms, and even near the best towns in our State. 



What is the remedy, do you ask? Wipe out all trifling and unequal bounties and 

 induce the legislature to provide a State bounty of $20 for the scalps of the old 

 wolves and $5 for the young ones. The boys will then arm themselves with the best 

 rifles of long range, will watch and hunt for the game, and speedily exterminate the 

 lupine race. 



Eegarding the best methods of management of sheep in the State, 0. 

 L. Gabrilson, of New Hampton, president of the Iowa Wool-growers' 

 Association, in an address, covered the essential points substantially 

 as follows : 



The care of sheep is similar, since all breeds have the same characteristics regard- 

 ing likes and dislikes ; quality of wool, fecundity, and habit of growth are results 

 of the breeder's skill in selecting, couplins', and feeding. The truth is, although as 

 sheepmen we are enthusiastic over our flocks, our neighbors, while admitting the 

 utility of an animal whose hoof is golden, are exceedingly slow to introduce it on 

 their farms; and while the dog nusianoe is sometimes given as a reason for not en- 

 tering this industry, "I'm not fixed for sheep," is almost the stereotyped answer 

 when this matter is discussed. Now, we can sympathize with such, for we were in 

 the same fix, and found that, like Horace Greeley's plan for the resumption of spe- 

 cie payments, "The way to resume is to resume!" So in getting ready to keep 

 sheep, the way is to keep sheep, and then you must provide the means for their care. 



Sheep are more easily fenced against than hogs, because they do not root; but a 

 bunch of sheep is an unhappy flock if ill fed. Five or six barbed wires, the bottom 

 two 4 inches apart, the next one 5 inches above, the next 8 inches, and top wire 

 about 3 feet from the ground, will keep sheep and lambs confined. Then, too, the 

 well-fed animal is seldom breachy, excep I. from habits learned under other conditions. 



Sheep digest their food more thoroughly than most farm stock, and therefore re- 

 quire less grain or hay to produce satisfactory results. There are not many experi- 

 ments on record of sheep feeding. The latest which has been given out comes from 

 Madison, Wis., and there the lambs outgained pigs in growth and economy of food, 

 which is a wonderful fact, wtien we take into account the well-known appetite and 

 quick digestion of a growing pig. But the advantage in favor of sheep above other 

 animals is its continued and complete digestive power through life as compared with 

 swine and cattle after maturity. 



Sheep suffer from wet more proportionately than cattle, because their fleeces hold 

 the surplus rain water which otherwise runs off the short haired cow or steer. This 

 water must all be evaporated, and most of this is done by animal heat that is drawn 

 from the body; which, in turn, must be replaced from stored flesh and food eaten. 

 In this respect the fiue-wooled sheep, with abundance of oil in their fleeces, have 

 the advantage of the more open-wooled mutton sheep, but shelter against rain is 

 readily provided, and they are easily trained to go under cover when rain begins to 

 fall. 



It is the early lamb, like the early calf, which is most satisfactory when raised. 

 Ewes about to lamb must have warmer quarters than store sheep require; but the 

 lambs, like the calf, will endure cold after it has dried off and gets enough to eat. 

 We have had considerable loss of lambs during the past two years when ewes have 

 lambed about the time grass is starting and they have had access to it. Our lambs 

 born when on dry food have got through all right, but a discouraging mortality of 

 the innocents took place among those born when the ewes would spend their time 



