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low in price, owing to short crops of cotton and tobacco. A disposition to increase the 

 number and improve the quality of cows, and, in fact, all kinds of stock. Sheep 

 steadily increasing, notwithstanding the ravages of dogs and rogues. Madison : Mules 

 increasing and becoming more popular as iarm-animals. A greater disposition to 

 engage in sheep husbandry, and sheep improving under better treatment. Hogs 

 scarce. Prince William : The financial condition has caused a decline in all domestic 

 animals except sheep. General attention being paid to the improvement of animals — 

 improved breeds of cattle. Southampton: Horses and mules not raised ; generally pur- 

 chased from droves. Small farmers are raising oxen for farm-work. Hogs few, owing 

 to scarcity of corn, but farmers are slowly returning to the old plan of raising their 

 own bread and meat. King William : But for negroes, hogs would increase greatly. 

 Spottsylvania : More attention paid to the raising of sheep. Bland : Horses and mules 

 running very low. Hogs scarce and high. Highland : Many horses raised for market; 

 not many mules for oiitside markets ; oxen and other cattle more raised than any 

 other stock, and annually driven to the northern and eastern markets in great num- 

 bers. Milch cows receive much attention, and are a source of great profit to the county. 

 James City : The increase of mules is due to purchases by the lumbermen. Have never 

 seen a dozen mule-colts, all told, in the county. The increase of sheep is due principally 

 to our enterprising men, who have imported quite a large number from North Caro- 

 lina. Clarice : No mules bred in the county ; mo.st of those now here are vestiges of 

 the war. Essex : Horses and mules are 25 j)er cent, lower than last year, owing to 

 scarcity of money. Roanoke : Oxen not raised to any great extent ; a good yoke, well 

 broken, worth about .$80. Wythe: No mules raised; some bought annually, to work 

 at the iron-works. Montgomery : A marked increase in the number of cattle, sheep, 

 and hogs, and great improvements in breeds. The farmers are generally getting into 

 breeds of Short-horns in cattle, the Cots wold in sheep, Berkshire and White Chester in 

 hogs, and the Norman or some other improved breed of horses. Bath: The decrease 

 in cattle owing to a light crop of hay. 



North Carolina. — Lincoln: Work-oxen are worth 50 per cent, more than other cat- 

 tle. Lenoir: Very little stock of any kind raised for sale. Nine-tenths of the horses 

 and mules used are brought from Tennessee, Kentucky, and other places. What cows, 

 sheep, and hogs are raised are used on the farms. Pitt ; Ouly about 10 per cent, of the 

 horses and mules required are raised here ; but this branch is annually receiving more 

 attention. We raise our own supply of oxen and cattle, but none for export. Only a 

 few sheep raised. Beaufort: Cattle increasing in number quite rapidly, but little im- 

 provement in quality. FranJclin : Very few horses and mules raised. The supply is 

 kept up by purchases from the West. Hogs are sold by weight, and the price is now 

 10 to 12 cents per pound. Davidson : The short corn-crop last year induced many farm- 

 ers to kill out their hog stock so closely as to occasion an absolute scarcity this winter. 

 Mitchell : The average price given for hogs is for common stock. The Chester and Es- 

 sex breeds are being introduced, for which we pay, at two months old, $6 per head. 

 Wilkes: The distemper in cattle is the cause of decrease. It has prevailed in several 

 sections of the county during the past year. As the hog-cholera has about disappeared, 

 the stock is increasing. Ashe : A decrease in cattle on account of scarcity of hay, 

 caused by drought. Jackson : Horses and mules increasing on the farmers' hands for 

 want of a market in the cotton-growing districts. Oxen and cows have decreased, 

 from the fact that they could be sold for cash, and this has been the farmers' only 

 means to meet taxes and other necessary expenses. Buncomhe : Cholera has dimin- 

 ished our stock of hogs one-fourth. Caldwell : Much inferior stock of all kinds, and 

 very little demand for any kind. 



South Carolina. — Barnwell: There are too many dogs for the welfare of sheep, and 

 the negroes think they have a pre-emption right to the hogs and young cattle. Union : 

 A very large portion of the horses and mules are brought from other States, principally 

 from Kentucky and Tennessee. From the same States come nearly all the hogs. Lex- 

 ington: The prices of all kinds of stock low, corresponding with the panic prices of 

 1873. 



Georgia. — Tron}^ : More colts this year than since 1866, and there will be more next 

 year than this. More attention to hogs. Few sheep, but a demand for more. Columbia: 

 But few sheep and few hogs. The falling off in prices in horses and mules is owing to 

 the fitct that factors have sold to the freedmeu, without security, low animals at high 

 prices and at enormous interest. The freedmeu, after paying landlords rent, have not 

 been able to pay up ; short crops, short prices, and extraordinary interest, have put our 

 frecdmen "hors du combat." The factors have " called in " these animals, upon which 

 perhai)S two-thirds of the money has been paid, and th'ey are sold, perhaps at public 

 outcry, to the highest bidder, bringing, of course, but a fraction of fust cost. Camden : 

 No mules are raised ; brought from Kentucky and Tennessee, and used principally in 

 lumbering and the rlce-ficdds. DcEalb : When the war closed there was very little stock 

 left in tliis county. The people have supplied themselves with horses and mules and 

 most of their pork from the West. Some cattle, sheep, and hogs are now raised, 

 and once in a while a colt and mule, but none for market, except as occasionally some 



