14 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



formed, now the principal growers there, continue the produc- 

 tion from motives of pride. Two Hungarian princes competed 

 with each other on exhibits of nolle wools at our Centennial 

 Exhibition. The patrician element of the South would be 

 not uncongenial to a similar industrial competition. 



Asking pardon of our readers for this digression, we pro- 

 ceed to consider other important conditions of successful 

 sheep husbandry. 



Resources for the Nutrition of Sheep. The next point of 

 inquiry is as to the resources, natural or artificial, for the nutri- 

 tion of sheep in the South. This involves not only further 

 consideration as to climate, but also the influences of physical 

 geography, soil, and hygroscopic conditions. As it would be 

 impossible, in our limited space, to consider these conditions in 

 each of the Southern States, we will select a typical district, 

 such as that composed by the States of Georgia, and North 

 and South Carolina. The physical geography in this district 

 is very distinctly marked, and is illustrated by the natural 

 divisions in Georgia known as Lower, Middle, and Upper 

 Georgia, or low country, hill country, and mountain country ; 

 the characteristic features of these divisions extending through 

 North Carolina to Virginia. The lower division, sometimes 

 called the tide-water zone, consists, in Georgia, of a belt of 

 country, with an area of about 35,000 square miles, much 

 rising as high as 300 feet above the ocean. Geologically, it 

 consists of the three divisions, Eocene, Miocene, and Plio- 

 cene of the Tertiary period. The soils on the dry lands are 

 generally light, and sometimes too sterile to admit of profita- 

 ble cultivation ; that of the swamps and river bottoms is 

 often exceedingly fertile. This is the land of the lorig- 

 leaved, or famous Georgia pine, and wire grass. The mid- 

 dle region commences at the head of navigation of the 

 rivers, the line of junction of the two regions forming the 

 line upon which the great interior cities are situated. The 

 middle, or hill country, having an area of about 15,000 square 

 miles, rises, first, into gentle hills, and finally, as it approaches 

 the mountains, into high and often broken elevations. The 

 geological formation underlying this country consists of the 



