The Sheep- Scab. 35 



cities — and, I may saiy, before the now irrepres- 

 sible wool circular reached the hands of almost 

 every grower throughout the country — the wool 

 buyer was able to take advantage of the. igno- 

 rance of the farmer, and to buy his wool at prices 

 frequently 15 to 20 cents per pound below the 

 values ruling in the East.- In fact, there were 

 instances where washed wools, bought in Ohio 

 at 40 cents per pound, were sold in the East at 65 

 cents, and that was done during a period when 

 there was no material change in the market- 

 Such a state of affairs, however, could not go 

 on without an end. The growth of the country 

 brought increased facilities for distributing infor- 

 mation and commercial reports 5 the wool circu- 

 lars spread over the land like a cloud of locusts, 

 and from their periodical quotations of prices, 

 the farmers were apprised of the values of their 

 staple. We will admit that the farmer is as 

 liberal as any other citizen of the country; at the 

 same time, he is quite as determined to get value 

 received for his product, if he knows it; and this 

 fact was quickly demonstrated by a decreased 



