48 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



can be bought in the basin for twenty to forty dollars per acre, vary- 

 ing according to the situation and soil." 



Mr. Killebrew publishes a letter addressed to him by Mr. 

 Tom Crutchfield, of East Tennessee, a successful sheep far- 

 mer ; from which we quote the following : 



"In 1864, I purchased a lot of native ewes ; and was fortunate in 

 . getting the use of a superior Spanish merino ram, bred by R. Peters, 

 of Atlanta, Georgia, to cross upon them : which cross gave great im- 

 provement in carcass, form, and fleece ; covering the naked places of 

 the natives, and making the fleece much more dense, and the fibre 

 finer and stronger. 



" I saved the ewe lambs of the cross, and bred them to an improved 

 Kentucky buck, bred by Robert W. Scott, of Frankfort, Kentucky, 

 which increased the size of carcass, and gave greater length and yield 

 of wool. 



" The ewe lambs of her get were bred to the best Cotswold buck 

 I could procure, American breed and imported ; never using one buck 

 longer than two years, and never breeding in and in. In the mean 

 time, I have added to my flock, American bred and imported Cotswold 

 ewes, at heavy cost, breeding them to the same bucks. 



" The imported and American-bred Cotswolds, and their offspring, 

 are not superior, either in carcass or fleece, to those of my own breed- 

 ing. I clipped samples of wool from Prince of Wales, an imported 

 English-bred buck, and also from a ewe of my own breeding, which, 

 through several generations, could be traced back through the merino 

 cross to the native. I sent these samples to my wool-merchants in Bos- 

 ton, Mass., with history, and requested their opinion of the wool, on its 

 merits. They pronounced the ewes' wool superior to the bucks'. It 

 was equally as good combing wool, eighteen inches long ; was of finer 

 and stronger fibre, soft to the touch, attributable to the shade of merino 

 in it. 



" The effects of cross to the Spanish merino, in fineness and soft- 

 ness of fibre, and density of fleece, and strength of staple, remain for 

 many generations. I cull my ewes annually, at shearing time, marking 

 all that are deficient in form or fleece, or that are becoming aged ; and 

 set them apart with the wethers for mutton, which are sold the follow- 

 ing spring, often taking a better price than ordinary sheep, because 

 they gross less and are better mutton. 



"I sold a lot last spring (fattened principally on grass) to the 



