SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 131 



tion having proved very successful. Indeed, I may 

 safely say that next to wool-growing silk-growing will 

 soon take the place for utility and profit. The mul- 

 berry-tree grows luxuriantly under the care of the hus- 

 bandman, and as a shade-tree it is incomparable for 

 beauty. "We are doing much to prepare the way to 

 add this industry, of so much interest to the whole 

 world, to the numerous and growing interests to which 

 Utah can to-day point with so much pride." 



Hon. S. F. Nuckolls, of Wyoming, a member of 

 Congress (now deceased), wrote : " I would say briefly 

 that the soil, grasses, and climate render it eminently 

 superior, especially for sheep. The soil absorbs the 

 falling rain rapidly, while its lighter particles refuse to 

 attach permanently to the fleece, affording a clip as 

 clean without washing as in other countries with wash- 

 ing. The grasses are highly nutritious, cure on the 

 ground, remain as permanent food during the entire 

 winter, and have better fattening properties than the 

 prairie-grasses in the more eastern and northern States. 

 The position is elevated, the air pure, and the ground 

 seldom muddy or soft. In addition to all this there 

 are no burrs of any kind, which are such pests in other 

 regions. Sheep are, therefore, healthy and free from 

 foot-rot and other distempers common to low, moist 

 lands and rank, coarse food. They have been kept for 

 the past twelve years about the military posts without 

 trouble, and last winter some 30,000 went through 

 without shelter or food other than the grass on the 

 ground. The flocks of James A. Moore & Brother, 

 near Cheyenne, composed of common merino and small 



