36 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



upon it ; every night during the year, using a portable fence. An ordi- 

 nary farm of 500 acres will support 500 sheep, besides the crops in 

 the above rotation. The oats and rye will feed them during the 

 winter nearly or entirely without injury to the grain. Five hands 

 would be sufficient to work such a farm and take care of the live- 

 stock. 



" During the first year, the following results might be expected from 

 an ordinary farm without manure : 



25 acres in cotton, 12 bags, at 15 cents $900.00 



25 acres in corn, 250 bushels, at $1 250.00 



50 acres in oats, 600 bushels, at 80 cents 400.00 



25 acres in rye, 200 bushels, at $1 200.00 



25 acres in wheat, 150 bushels, at 1.50 225.00 



Increase and mutton sales of 500 sheep 500.00 



Wool, 3 pounds per head, at 33 cents per pound .... 500.00 



Manure, at $1 per head 500.00 



$3,475.00 



" Separately, each of these products is small ; still the aggregate 

 result is more than $600 per hand. Yet this is nearly three times 

 the average product per hand in the cotton States. 



" The farm products given in the case above supposed are the result 

 of the first year's rotation. The next year, the cotton and the corn 

 would be more than double, by penning 500 sheep at night on 50 acres. 

 It is the writer's experience that 10 sheep, regularly penned, will manure 

 50 acres. Two hundred would therefore manure, well, 50 acres. The 

 appearance of the ground would not indicate this high manuring ; but 

 it should be remembered, that liquid manure (which is equal in value 

 to the solid) is not visible. ... At the end of the fifth year of this 

 rotation, the change in the farm would be equal almost to a trans- 

 formation ; the crops having doubled or trebled, without (which is a 

 most important point) any material increase of labor or other ex- 

 pense." 



The accuracy of the estimates above given, we do not vouch 

 for. As we have said before, all definite estimates of profits 

 in any industry are liable to be fallacious. They are submit- 

 ted only for illustration. The best hand-books of art can do 

 hardly any thing more than suggest, and excite the reader 

 to apply his own intelligence to the particular problem which 

 he desires to solve. The more general statement of an- 

 other, Mr. Peters, may be more safe. He is experienced in 



