42 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



ceeds twenty millions, of dollars. Our principal supply of 

 these wools formerly came from Canada. Now the produc- 

 tion is declining in Canada, and rapidly increasing in the 

 United States. The successful production of the long-comb- 

 ing wools is limited to the populous districts, where there is a 

 demand for mutton, and where there is an improved agricul- 

 ture. Therefore, while the production of fine merino wools 

 in this country is liable to be affected by the competition of 

 the vast pastoral regions of the Southern Hemisphere, and, 

 without defensive duties, would be certainly overwhelmed, 

 there is no probability of over-production in the growth of 

 combing wool. As a general rule, the English long-woolled 

 races are adapted only for situations where the lands are rich, 

 not subject to drought, fitted for root culture, and where 

 good city markets are easily accessible. It would seem, then, 

 that there are but few situations at the South, or that portion 

 of the Southern country which we have hitherto in view, 

 where the English races could be cultivated to advantage. 

 Mr. Peters is of opinion that the more elevated country of 

 the Southern States is well adapted to these sheep ; as, he 

 says, that the influx of the English combing wools " would 

 keep, for many generations, the fair Blue Ridge of the South 

 without sheepwalks, though it is by nature one of the most 

 favored spots in America for this class of wools." A milder 

 climate than that of the North is required for the successful 

 culture of the most important of the long-woolled English 

 races, the Leicester. The universal testimony at the North 

 is that the climate, generally, is too severe for the Leicesters, 

 and therefore the hardier Cotswolds are preferred. Leicester 

 wools, pronounced to be equal to the best English, have been 

 produced in Ohio, on the southern border of Lake Erie. 

 But the climate is modified by the lake, and this is peculiarly 

 a region of the vine. The wool of the Cotswold is too coarse 

 for many worsted fabrics, and has neither the fineness nor 

 the lustre of the Leicester. Greater fineness in the Cotswold 

 fleece may be produced, as has been done in Kentucky and 

 Tennessee, by a slight infusion of merino blood ; but the 

 highly important quality of lustre, such as is wanted for 



