STOCK RAISING IN UNITED STATES. DAs 

imported from other parts of the country, but the lion’s 
share will go to our vast flocks of sheep that have found a 
natural home in the valleys and divides of the Western 
and inter-mountain States.” 
In the case of sheep there have been greater variations than 
in cattle. A maximum sheep-stock of 50,627,000 was 
reached in 1884, and afterwards succeeded by a fall to 
42,599,000 in 1889, which was followed by arise to 47,274,000 in 
1893, and by a further fall to 36,819,000 in 1897 ; but since the 
latter year there has been an uninterrupted rise to 41,883,000 
in 1900. An interesting teature connected with the produc- 
tion of mutton has been the growth of the flocks grazed on 
the open range lands which now constitute the great source 
of the mutton and wool supply of the United States. The 
‘“‘range sheep” is displacing the “range steer.’ ‘We are,”’ 
says Mr. Clay, “so to speak, ina transition state, so far as our 
flocks are concerned. With low prices for wool, and our 
sheep unable to compete in a mutton line against our beef 
and hog products, the small raiser of sheep in such states as 
Ohio and Indiana was driven out of the field. On free grass. 
they could be produced cheaply, and the fed Western wether, 
raised say in Wyoming and finished on Nebraska corn, could 
be placed on the market at a figure far below the cost of the 
same animal in the granger states.”’ 
But in the opinion of this authority the grazing of sheep on 
the open range cannot long be maintained under present 
conditions. As the flocks increase, the supply of wild 
grass will become more and more exhausted, and winter feed 
will have to be provided, with a consequent material rise in 
the cost of production. As a result, Mr. Clay expects to see 
smailer flocks in the West, more attention to winter feeding, 
and consequently lessloss: ‘Then will come the day when 
the flocks of the pure-blood breeder will be drawn upon 
heavily and undoubtedly successfully, although from the 
peculiarities of this trade it is by no means so certain that 
the results will be as far reaching in this branch of our live 
stock trade as in the beef-making line.” 
To the influence of the foreign demand, mainly British, is 
attributed much of the progress of the cattle industry in the 
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