872 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



distance in the State, and a network of southern tributaries of the Ar- 

 kansas. These rivers are not navigable, yet with their tributaries they 

 make Kansas one of tlie best watered of the Western States. In most 

 localities, including the extreme western part of the State, good water 

 is obtained within a reasonable distance of the surface by digging or 

 boring. In some places, particularly in the western counties, artesian 

 wells furnish valuable supplies of water. 



Timber is abundant along the streams in the eastern portion of the 

 State. It is less plentiful in the central portion. The varieties of 

 timber embrace oak, elm, black walnut, cotton wood, box-elder, honey 

 locust, willow, hickory, sycamore, white ash, hackberry, and mulberry. 

 The Osage orange makes a rapid and vigorous growth. It is not killed 

 by the winters, and is extensively used for hedges. Stone, being 

 l^lenty and cheap, is used in dwellings, barns, outhouses, and fences. 



Except in certain cases, where the surroundings and equipments are 

 especially favorable, large flocks of sheep will never again be numerous 

 in this State. The demand for ewes by farmers is better to-day than 

 ever before, and is an indication of the tendency of the industry in the 

 future. Sheep-raising will prove especially advantageous to western 

 Kansas, where grain-raising has been, as a rule, a hazardous business, 

 and where many farmers have only limited means. On this subject 

 the Kansas Farmer says : 



Western Kansas is naturally adapted for live-stock raising, owing to its abundant 

 native pastures, pure air and water, and invigorating and healthful climate, and 

 there is no class of live stock that requires so little capital as sheep, so that this 

 branch of the animal industry is within the reach of most of the present residents, 

 and consequently an available business that will give larger returns for the amount 

 of money invested than any other class of live stock. There is no other portion of 

 the country west of the Mississippi that is better adapted iu every way for success- 

 ful sheep husbandry than western Kansas. This is an acknowledged fact, as 

 vouched for by men who have had years of experience in this section as well as 

 other portions of the country ; besides, the writer has visited nearly every sheep- 

 raising region of the West, and is more than ever convinced of the truthfulness of 

 the foregoing statement. 



NUMBERS AND VALUES. 



OfBcial reports of the number of sheep and other live stock for 1891 

 include only such stock as was assessed for taxation purposes, hence 

 the figures are incomplete, as the number assessed is always short of 

 the actual number, and does not include last year's lambs. 



The report of the state board of agriculture for the year ended 

 December 31, 1891, gives the following distribution: The counties hav- 

 ing 10,000 head of sheep and over are Butler, Woodson, and Sedgwick; 

 those having 8,000 and under 10,000 are Cowley, Mitchell, and Osborne; 

 those having 6,000 and under 8,000 are Hodgeman, Ottawa, Eeno, 

 Eussell, and Wallace; those having 4,000 and under 6,000 are Coffey, 

 Greenwood, Lyon, Marion, Scott, Sheridan, and Trego; those having 



