DECLINING PRODUCTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 19 February 1915, Page 2

DECLINING PRODUCTION

rOSIiION IN AMERICA. There wr.s a further decline in. the number of sheep in the United 'States in 1913, when the estimated number was 36,319,000, as compared- with 38,481,000 in 1912, a decrease of '2,162,000. The tariff agitation, culminating in free wool, is blamed by many critics for this; falling off in the number of sheep," but 'that cause is not the only on© operating in the same direction: The. establishment of homesteads' in the grazing •country and" the consequent utilisation of the sheep pastured for general farming purposes; also'the tendency to devote, areas formerly used for sheep farming to the work of dairying and. to raising beet sugar, vegetables, and fruit; whilst, again, there is the harrowing of open ranges due to the extension of. the forest reserve policy—all are stated as contributory causes to the slackening of wool production in the XTnited Stages, A sfcrdng tendency,' moreover, is displayed in nearly all' parts of the country to," .cross for mutton sheep and halfbreds, arid' to regard meat as the main and "wool as. the incidental object of slieepbreeding — : a' natural consequence of the Tis.ing. demand of ah increasing population for. food products.