30 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



pine and the wire grass. Flocks of native sheep, as high as thirty-five 

 hundred in number, are found here and there, scattered over the sur- 

 face, receiving but little care or attention, except at the annual gather- 

 ing for shearing and marking. Very little can be said either for the 

 quantity or quality of the wool raised there. I am aware that it has 

 been claimed for this section that its present advantages are as great 

 for large flocks as the ranges in Texas and California. I do not sub- 

 scribe to this opinion. The pasturage of this section, called wire grass, 

 offers fine grazing for sheep in the spring ; but, for permanent and con- 

 tinuous food, it cannot be relied on. A fair experiment in sheep-raising, 

 uniting good attention, selection, and crossing, with a determination to 

 secure the best development in frame and fleece, has not been made in 

 this section for many years. If it were properly attempted, by com- 

 bining Bermuda with the wire grass for spring and summer pasture, 

 and red winter oats for one or two months in winter, for the ewes and 

 lambs, I think the results would prove of the most satisfactory and 

 profitable character." 



General Young, of North Carolina, who, as a practical wool 

 manufacturer, speaks with much weight, is more sanguine 

 than Mr. Peters as to the capacity of the lower region for 

 sheep husbandry. He says that, in the tide-water regions, 

 " the sheep find a sustaining pasturage, the entire year, upon 

 the wire grass which grows spontaneously through the other- 

 wise barren pine forests. Being thus independent of their 

 owners, they keep in uniform good flesh, grow to better ma- 

 turity, and furnish better fleeces than in the upper portions of 

 the State." By the statements of General Gordon and 

 others, it appears that immense tracts of these lands can be 

 obtained at from fifty cents to one dollar an acre. Having 

 been burned over in former times by the Indians, they are free 

 from underbrush. There is no necessity of clearing the land, 

 as the pines may be destroyed by girdling. The land can be 

 prepared for the required pasturage of winter oats, simply by 

 harrowing. A great advantage of these more southerly lo- 

 calities is the facility for supplying early lambs for the north- 

 ern markets. Even Texan flockmasters with whom we have 

 conversed admit the advantages of these lands for sheep-grow- 

 ing on a large scale. 



