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The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
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Vol.  LXXV 
NEW  YORK.  OCTOBER  14,  11)1(5. 
•No.  4399. 
Looking  Things  in  the  Face 
Sheep  in  the  Eastern  States 
It  ANSI  “OUT  ATT  OX  TROUBLES.  — The  mime 
Yankee  is  a  synonym  for  shrewdness,  while  the 
fact  is  no  people  are  more  imposed  on.  Whether  it 
is  because  the  slickest  get  into  office,  or  trade,  or 
fake  work,  or  that  there  are  vulnerable  points  in 
many  of  them,  I  presume  not  to  say.  but  the  va¬ 
riety  of  games  and  grafts  played  on  them  were  al¬ 
ways  amusing  until  T,  myself,  got  a  scald.  An  experi¬ 
ence  at  the  Christopher  St.,  New  Yoric,  wharf  when 
bringing  the  body  of  a  friend  from  Vermont,  showed 
me  that  nothing  from  a  corpse  to  a  chicken  is  safe 
from  grafters  connected  with  the  freight  and  ex¬ 
press  handlers  there.  History  in  regard  to  the 
sale  of  every  production  of  the  farms  that  reaches 
that  famous  city  shows  that  the  growers  do  not 
get  half  they  should  and  many  are  toiling  for  a 
retail  perishable  stuff  is  produced  there  should  he 
something  wholesale  grown,  and  while  wool  and 
mutton  seem  all  right  to  me.  there  are  other  things 
that  might  appeal  to  folks  there.  The  commission 
line  is  good  in  some  cases,  but  never  as  good  as 
home  sales.  Also  a  surplus  and  consequent  depend¬ 
ence  of  the  growers,  has  furnished  innumerable  in¬ 
terstices  to  insert  a  swarm  of  inspectors  and  con¬ 
demnors,  czars,  whose  only  qualification  for  their 
jobs  is  loyalty  to  a  “higher  up”,  fellows  who  may 
invade  a  man’s  premises  at  will  or  condemn  his 
products  at  pleasure,  or  for  a  consideration.  The 
limit  was  shown  in  late  news.  A  dairyman  was  or¬ 
dered  to  go  and  got  vaccinated  for  typhoid  or  his 
milk  would  he  condemned.  T  have  never  met  a  man 
of  such  power  in  Licking  Co.,  O.  A  land-owner  in 
America  is  supposed  to  he  a  sovereign,  and  not  have 
to  he  making  apologies  for  being  on  earth,  and  the 
milk  troubles  will  all  he  adjusted  when  it  is  so 
so  well  for  them,  hut  it  is  like  a  district  in  Rich¬ 
land  County,  C.  The  assessor  told  me  he  found 
"no  sheep,  seven  goats  and  913  dogs.*' 
ONE  SITKEP  TO  300  ACRES. — The  census  of 
New  York  sheep  in  1900  was  about  about  one  and 
three-quarters  million,  for  1910  loss  Ilian  a  million, 
and  as  near  as  can  be  estimated  now,  less  than 
half  a  million.  In  all  these  estimates,  the  number 
was  increased  by  many  from  the  "West  for  Winter 
feeding,  and  it  is  very  likely  that  100,000  would 
tally  every  head  of  regular  stock  sheep  in  the  State 
tonight;  two  to  a  square  mile,  one  to  300  acres. 
Vermont  is  a  sheep  pasture,  par  excellence.  It  was 
covered  with  good  ones  when  I  was  a  hoy,  and  they 
brought  the  overflow  of  the  poorest  into  Ohio  and 
sold  them  at  fabulous  prices.  In  trying  to  find  the 
condition  of  the  industry  now  I  have  sueh  informa¬ 
tion  as  the  following:  “I  am  breeding  a  few  Slirop- 
shires  as  a  side  Hue.”  “I  am  entirely  out  of  the 
A  Pair  of  Lincolns,  the  Largest  Sheep  Known  to  Civilization.  Fig.  532 
hare  living,  or  less,  to  support  a  horde  of  umle- 
si  rabies.  Because  I  had  a  good  case,  T  came  into 
these  columns  with  “sheep  vs.  cows,”  and  could 
have  referred  with  equal  safety  to  sheep  vs.  vege¬ 
tables  and  fruits,  but  it  is  well  I  confined  myself, 
because  I  have  had  a  multitude  of  letters  on  the 
subject,  and  in  self-defense  I  now  lay  down  the  fol¬ 
lowing. 
OVERPRODUCTION  OF  THE  EAST. — It  is  un¬ 
profitable  anywhere,  and  the  glut  shows  what  is  the 
matter  there.  There  may  not  he  too  much  for  the 
mouths  in  the  cities  and  towns,  hut  there  is  more 
than  the  handlers  of  it  should  have  until  they  re¬ 
vise  tlieir  methods.  Two-thirds  of  them  should  be 
starved  out,  and  {lie  balance  brought  in  closer  friend¬ 
ship  and  integrity  with  producers.  There  should  lie 
such  a  scarcity  that  they  would  be  compelled  to  hunt 
it,  which  would  give  the  grower  the  advantage  of 
selling  on  his  own  ground.  Where  much  of  this 
scarce  that  men  will  hunt  it.  and  pay  a  price  that 
will  warrant  its  purity.  The  fruit  and  vegetable 
sores  Avili  heal  under  similar  conditions. 
HOME  PRODUCTION^. — A  farm  should  produce 
everything  possible  for  the  support,  of  the  family 
and  for  feeding  its  livestock,  and  a  nation  should 
grow,  mine  and  manufacture  for  every  need  of  its 
people,  as  far  as  its  own  resources  will  allow  it. 
There  are  not  enough  sheep  in  the  world  to  clothe  it, 
and  they  must  work  over  all  the  woolen  rags  and 
tatters  to  clothe  “the  human  form  divine.”  There 
is  not  over  one-tliird  enough  produced  in  the  United 
States  for  its  needs,  and  not  one-twentieth  in  the 
Eastern  Stales,  where  many  are  discouraged  labor¬ 
ing,  lute  and  early,  to  grow  too  much  of  a  few  per¬ 
ishable  things.  I  have  traveled  a  hundred  miles  in 
the  East  without  seeing  a  sheep.  Westerners  tour¬ 
ing  in. autos  remark  on  the  beautiful  locations  for 
them  and  their  scarcity.  Such  an  empire  is  fitted 
sheep  business  and  not  in  a  position  t<>  help  yon 
on  the  sheep  census.”  In  fact  it  looks  ns  if  there 
wasn't  any  ecu  :is.  and  the  other  New  England 
States  are  similar. 
ADAPTATION  OF  LAND.— Millions  of  the  gen¬ 
tle  creatures  are  missing  a  delightful  time  in  all 
those  States.  With  the  nice  climate,  the  rolling 
land,  spring  runs,  trout  brooks,  rocks,  lakes  and 
scenery,  nature  was  generous  with  rugged  beauty, 
and  like  the  country  of  the  first  shepherds,  it  might 
be  a  paradise  for  sheep.  Then  the  land-owners  are 
missing  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  their  society.  We 
read  in  this  good  paper  of  a  Scotch  lady  of  Prince 
Edward  Island.  SO  years  old.  wlm  has  the  time  of 
her  life  with  sheep.  I  looked  with  adoration  at 
some  of  mine  today  nearly  equal  to  that  with  which 
I  viewed  my  best  girl  45  years  ago.  Much  of  that 
land  is  peculiarly  fitted  for  sheep.  There  are  ex¬ 
tremes  of  land.  One  is  the  “flat,  featureless,  coni- 
