CHAPTER XVI 
WOOL PRODUCTION 
TuE production of wool is so intimately connected with 
the raising of mutton that in practically no case has it 
proved practicable to raise sheep for either mutton or 
wool exclusively. According to the report of the Tariff 
Board for the year 1910, the average receipts for each sheep 
in the United States west of the Missouri River were 
$2.44. Of this amount, $1.05 was derived from wool 
and $1.39 from other sources; thus for all the sheep west 
of the Missouri River, which includes approximately 70 
per cent of the sheep in the United States, the income 
from wool amounts to 43 per cent of the total gross in- 
come. This proportion varies considerably when different 
flocks are compared. It perhaps varies somewhat with 
the different states of the West, but in no case do the 
receipts from wool exceed the receipts from other sources. 
In the states east of the Missouri River the proportion of 
the income derived from wool is somewhat less, but at 
the same time it is a large and important item. 
The wool industry of the United States is on the whole 
one of very great importance. This country produces 
about 325 million pounds of wool, which is worth to the 
farmers something over 60 million dollars. This enormous 
amount of wool, however, does not meet the demands of 
the American people. While the United States produces 
226 
