100 APPENDIX. 



as high as 3,500 in number, are found here and there scattered over 

 the surface ; receiving but little care or attention, except at the annual 

 gathering for shearing and marking. Very little can be said either for 

 the quantity or quality of the wool per head raised here. 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 subscribe to this opinion. The pasturage of this section, called 

 wire grass, affords fine grazing for sheep in the spring ; but, for per- 

 manent and continuous 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 combining 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. 



In the middle portion of the State, the Bermuda grass prevails ; and, 

 under the cotton system of culture, it was the dread and bane of the 

 planter : but now, for its nutritious qualities and compactness of sod 

 it is considered by our people as valuable and as reliable as any grass, 

 not excepting the Kentucky blue grass. It is undoubtedly the sacred, 

 or " doub," grass of the Hindoos. It will afford sheep the very best 

 pasturage for six months of the year, in this section of the State : and, 

 if managed as on the pastures in Kentucky, for the entire year. 



In Putnam, Hancock, Wilkes, and adjoining counties (formerly the 

 el dorado cotton country of Georgia), where the Bermuda has taken 

 possession, there is a future for successful sheep husbandry ; providing, 

 of course, the supervision be intelligent, and the business properly con- 

 ducted, and combined with cotton culture. The result must prove 

 highly remunerative, far surpassing any thing in the past history of 

 this industry in New England or the Middle States. 



My own experience has been, to a great extent, in North or upper 

 Georgia, in Gordon County. The country is hill and valley, the land 

 changing very rapidly ; the pasturage, sedge, crab, and other native 

 grasses. Of the cultivated, the orchard grass, red and white clover, on 

 upland, and red top, on low land, succeed admirably. Lucerne and 

 German millet are never-failing sources of an ample supply of hay. 

 The former affords from four to five cuttings in a season. Red, rust- 

 proof oats a reliable winter variety, if sown in September can be 

 pastured during the winter and early spring, and then yield a full crop 

 of grain. The same may be said of barley, rye, and wheat. 



