50 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



this race, which, according to British writers, " is certainly 

 the most convenient sheep, as he will thrive anywhere, on 

 much or little, in mountain storm or by dreamy mansion;" 

 the acknowledged fact, that, of all English races, " the Che- 

 viot has the best general mutton and wool ; " the fact that 

 the county of Northumberland, the home of the race, con- 

 taining 1,250,000 acres, and having one sheep to every one 

 and a quarter acres, has a physical aspect corresponding to 

 regions in the Blue Ridge and Tennessee, being largely 

 occupied with mountains rising to a height of two thousand 

 feet, has led to the opinion, that the Cheviots are peculiarly 

 adapted to the slopes and plateaus, or tablelands, of the Blue 

 Ridge and the Cumberland Mountains. One intelligent cor- 

 respondent, Col. Watts, of South Carolina, speaking of sheep 

 adapted to the Blue Ridge region, says : " I should also 

 strongly recommend the Cheviot, so successful in the districts 

 of England and Scotland, of similar altitude and climate." 

 We know nothing to oppose this opinion, which appears quite 

 reasonable. But no experiments have yet been made with 

 the Cheviots in these localities; nor have any judiciously 

 conducted experiments with the native or merino sheep, in 

 large flocks, been made. There have been several attempts 

 at sheep-growing on a large scale, on the Cumberland table- 

 land, at an elevation of two thousand feet ; where, in the 

 summer months, the land is covered with tussocks of nutri- 

 tious mountain grass, furnishing a sufficient sustenance for 

 eight months in the year. As no attention was given to pro- 

 viding forage in the winter for these flocks, the enterprise, 

 of course, ignominiously failed. 



For the benefit of those who may possibly contemplate a 

 trial of the Cheviots, it may be said, that, in the counties in 

 England and Scotland producing these sheep, the sheep-farms 

 are commonly about 2,000 acres in extent. In general, only 

 a small part of the farm is cultivated (rarely more than fifty 

 to one hundred acres), and that only for winter food for the 

 sheep. Although bred in purely pastoral regions, they are 

 grown primarily for mutton ; which, when fattened, is held 

 in the highest estimation. The breeder in the mountains, 



