27 
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF FARMERS OF THE WEST. 
you need not seek for a lot at night at all Here now 
your horse comes of use. Ride ahead, and select 
some good spot for your camp; place the wagon, and 
gather the flock around it, and with a little salt tell 
them that is their home. Then let them graze till 
dark, and then herd them all up around “ home,” and 
they will soon lie down, and your dogs under the 
wagon will take care of the rest till morning. You 
have no idea how cheap you can travel in this way. 
The expense on the road will not amount to $1 50 
a-day. 
A few sheep will fall lame. These and any sickly 
lambs, should be at once disposed of for what they 
will fetch; as they tend to detain the whole flock, 
and soon cost more than they come to. 
I would advise that, the flock should be of a me¬ 
dium grade of wool, and all strong young sheep. If 
a liner grade of wool is desired, let the bucks be se¬ 
lected for that purpose. A larger per cent, of loss 
always takes place the first year, than after—and 
fine wool grows upon the most delicate carcass. 
This mortality the first year is owing to the fatigue 
of driving, and some difference of climate and soil, 
and a very great difference in the feed, both green 
and dry. 
I will suppose this flock has arrived at the end of 
its long journey in the month of August, and that 
you desire to establish winter-quarters upon an entire 
new plan, or at least upon some small improvement, 
that you may purchase. I would prefer a location 
of prairie land adjoining timber, having the timber 
with plenty of brush on the north and west side as a 
wind-breaker. 
After your arrival, the flock must be in the con¬ 
stant care of one hand and the dogs, or for lack of 
dogs he must have a horse, as the sheep feel a con¬ 
stant restless disposition to find the outside fence of 
the “ big paster.” They must also be put up at 
night as near the house as possible, and even then a 
little sneaking prairie wolf will sometimes creep in 
and make a little mutton,—though a good dog will 
keep them off', and they are fast growing few and far 
between. They are easily destroyed by poison, 
the best for that purpose being strychnine, which is 
the concentrated poison of nux vomica. One grain 
is sufficient to produce death in any of the canine 
race, or other noxious “ varmint.” It may be ad¬ 
ministered by putting it in pieces of meat just large 
enough for a mouthful; or otherwise it is a very good 
way to put lumps of lard upon chips, and put the 
poison in the centre, and then place the bait around 
the sheep-fold fence, or in any other place likely to 
be visited by the wolves. The big wolves are not 
prairie settlers. Sometimes, though very rarely, a 
sheep is bitten by the massasauger, a small black 
rattlesnake, and then, for aught I know, you will 
soon have a dead sheep. In my next I shall speak 
of winter-quarters. Solon Robinson. 
Lake Court House , la., Nov. 27th, 1844. 
We shall feel under particular obligation to any of 
our western friends who will furnish us with an ac¬ 
count of the diseases to which sheep are most sub¬ 
ject on the prairies, and the best preventives and 
cures for them. The crop of wool grown in the 
United States, in a few years, will scarcely be inferior 
in value to that of cotton ; and anything which will 
tend to cheapen, improve, and add to the security of 
i Is production, will be greatly for the public good. 
THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE PROS¬ 
PECTS OF FARMERS OF THE WEST. 
When we look back at the past, we are struck by 
the remarkable alterations in the pursuits of the peo¬ 
ple, and by the changes in the prices of articles., 
Many years ago a few fine sheep •were brought 
to Kentucky and sold at enormous prices These 
prices are gone, but the flocks of the state remain per¬ 
manently improved. Fine horses commanded also 
at several times the value of a good landed estate. 
These too have greatly diminished in price, yet the 
whole stock of the state has been improved by their 
introduction. The mulberry mania, the cow pox, and 
the swine fever succeeded. The high pressure prices 
for all engendered by them have passed away. Yet 
silk is now made, and the herds of cattle and hogs 
have been greatly improved. The temporary evil is 
gone, and much permanent good remains behind to 
benefit the people. The prices of lands, grain, hemp, 
and stock, too, were constantly varying from high to 
low. No calculations as to price could be safely 
made ; no engagements dependent on the sales of ag¬ 
ricultural products were free of ruinous peril. Many 
persons, when hemp sold for $7 and $8 per cwt., and 
beef for 5 and 6 cents per pound, made pecuniary en¬ 
gagements predicated on these prices, and were hope¬ 
lessly involved. Now, a change has come over the 
spirit of our dream. Shall we profit by it? Good 
land, it is true, is still held at high prices. But all 
the products of farming labor are very low, and find 
us under the dominion of habits produced by high 
prices. This is our present state and condition. 
We talk about governmental economy, and we 
must practise it at home in our families, or suffer. 
Retrenchment of expenses is the only safe remedy for 
the evils of diminished revenue. We must avoid the 
grocery and the dry goods store, eat and drink what 
the farm produces, and wear what our wives and 
daughters spin and weave. Domestic manufactures 
require no protection, and have but one opponent— 
Falte Pride. But he is stiff-necked and obstinate as 
a mule. When will the present dull and flat state of 
things cease ? What causes are at work to produce a 
better ? None visible in the vast horizon. The na¬ 
tions of Europe are at peace, producing their own sup¬ 
plies, except of cotton and tobacco; while the agri¬ 
cultural products of our own country are increasing in 
a ratio far greater than the demand for them abroad, or 
than can be produced by the diversion of all other 
classes at home from field labor. If products foi 
sale cannot be made to command remunerating prices, 
they will cease to be made, and the importing mer¬ 
chants will be informed of the true state of the coun¬ 
try, by their difficulty of collecting from their retailing 
customers, who sell to the people, and by their ina¬ 
bility to dispose of recent importations. People neces¬ 
sarily cease to buy when they are unable to sell 
wherewithal to pay. If we sell at home, we must 
buy at home; for we shall have nothing to send 
where there is no demand. We must then cease to 
use imported articles unless our exports will pay for 
them ; exports of productions, I mean, for the money of 
a country is soon exhausted, when it imports and pays 
in money. We must then export in productions or 
manufactures, if we consume imported articles. So far 
as our manufactures at home can supply us with needed 
wares at fair prices, there is no necessity to the con¬ 
sumer, so far as he is such only for imported wares 
