SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 5 



who published in the "Farmer's Library," at the request of 

 Col. J. S. Skinner, a series of letters addressed to Col. R. F. 

 Allston, of South Carolina, on sheep husbandry in the South. 

 These letters were collected and published in a separate 

 book, in 1860, by Orange Judd & Co., of New York. This 

 work, by so high an authority and a writer so accomplished, 

 makes us hesitate to undertake our task. It seems pre- 

 sumptuous to attempt to glean from a field which has been 

 so thoroughly reaped and garnered. But as the precedence 

 of Dr. Randall, and the short space to which our pages limit 

 us, reduce our work to scarcely more than one of annotation 

 and condensation, we have less diffidence in attempting it, 

 especially since we shall be at least the means of introducing 

 some fresh and original matter from high authorities on sheep- 

 breeding at the South. 



That a new field for sheep husbandry is about to be opened 

 at the South, is shown less by what has been as yet accom- 

 plished, than by a complete change in popular opinion in that 

 section as to the desirability of extending this industry within 

 its borders. No stronger evidence of that change could be 

 presented than the request of so many distinguished states- 

 men of the South that the claims of Southern sheep hus- 

 bandry should receive the special consideration of the National 

 Association of Wool Manufacturers. Personal interviews 

 with many of these gentlemen have assured us that it is their 

 earnest conviction, that no industry at present offers for their 

 section such advantages in return for capital invested, and 

 general improvement of the country in question, as sheep 

 husbandry. As other indications of the change in popular 

 opinion, we may state that the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 of the State of Georgia, holding an office recently created, 

 presented, as his first official document, a report on the sheep 

 husbandry of the State ; and that the State Agricultural 

 Association of Georgia has recently addressed a memorial 

 to Congress, protesting against any reduction of the existing 

 duties protective of the wool production of the country, . 

 the first instance, it is said, of similar action in the history of 

 the State. The question whether the prevailing popular 



