F A R M E R S' REGISTER. 



409 



fir ilieir agririillural proiiuciims. Lunfrna^'^ can 

 h;ir:lly convey hu itdeqiuile idea of ihe |)rup()eiity 

 to vvliicli siicli ;i pttile of thinixs woulil <;ive rise. 

 All llii.-j |)ros;ieiity is wiihin our re;irh, il' we have 

 bul ilie wisdom to avail oiirselves ol' llie advari- 

 taire!> thai otier. Time alone will ilelcrmine vvlie- 

 <her we are lo Itccome l!ie niosi prosperous nation 

 on earih, or to cnniiiiu* laboring under die depres- 

 sion aiui dirii.uliies to which we shall ever he ex- 

 posed, while we depend upon a foreign nation to 

 inanulaciure li)r iis ihe necessarifs ol' coni'onalile 

 sustenance, while she reluses to buy (ioin us a 

 pound ol'our Hour, beel"or pork. 



Yours, very respectfully, 



A. BliATTY. 



Prospect Hill, Feb. 8ih, 1840. 



t have no objection to your [lubiishmg the letter 

 I addressed to iVJ r. L. Sanders in August. 1827, if 

 you should deem it expedient to do so. Conside- 

 ralile chani/es have talten place since that period. 

 The price ol'caiile, since thai time, has considera- 

 bly increased, I believe almost duutiled, whilst 

 wool ol'ihe same quality has declined in price. In 

 1827, three-fourths blooded wool sold lor 36 cents^; 

 lust year, 1 sold my crop in JVlaysvilie, (full-blood) 

 to a wool dealer lor 40 cenis per pound, which, 

 for the grade, is lower than in 1827. My wool 

 would, however, have probably netted me 45 cents 

 in Philadelphia, clear of all charges, and ihat per- 

 haps, may be considered as the price which lull- 

 blooded Merino wool will net the Kentucky wool 

 grower, at this time, after deduciing charges lor 

 transportation, commission, &c., which amounts 

 lo about three cis. per pound. My fleeces (wash- 

 ed on the sheep's back) averaged about thiee 

 pounds. Each fleece will, tiierelbre, produce one 

 dollar and thnty-five cents. In consequence ofihe 

 uncertainty ofthe wool business, arising horn our 

 unsteady policy, in relation to the encouragement 

 and protection of home industry, i have kept down 

 my flock to about the number 1 owned at the dale 

 of my letter to Mr. Sanders. I have now two 

 hundred and sixty. The wool of these at ihe above 

 rate, would amount to §350. To iliis sum should 

 be added the value of the annual increase, over 

 and under age is of lar greater iiiiporiance than 

 the above, keeping up the flock. I would estimate 

 this at only Ibriy-nine dollars. The product ol my 

 eheep would, iherelbre, be four hundred dollars 

 annually. 



In comparinj sheep husbandry with cattle 

 raising, a distincii(3n should be nifidc fieuveen the 

 rearing of can le, and grazing and feeding them. 

 'J'he jfrazier buys his ca' le at the suitable age lor 

 grazing and bringing them into market in one 

 year. If he manages his businefs judiciously, he 

 will by at such a rate as will make bis cattle, 

 when grazed and laited, pay lor llie pasture at:d 

 corn consumed by them, and produce a lair profit 

 upon his investiture of capital, and lalior exjiended 

 in 'eedinff his stock. Tins is a business that re- 

 quires a large capital in land, negroes, liirming 

 imple nenis, &c., besides a considerable sum in 

 money to buy caitle. It is, doubtless, a good 

 business lor the rich interior ol'our state, as it 

 oH'ords a ready consumption for ihe rich blue-gras? 

 pastures, and abundant torn crops ol' that region 

 of country, and greatly contributes towards the 

 ferliliiy of the soil. I am not sufficiently conver- 

 sant with the grazing business to draw a com- 



VoL. VIII. -52 



parison between it and sheep husbandry ; and it 

 was not my iriteniion to do so, in the letier I ad- 

 dressed to Mr. Sanders. Nor cliil I intend lo speak 

 of ihe|)rotiisot rearing blooded cattle to sell for 

 hreeders. This is a business that must necessa- 

 rily be confined lo a comparatively small number 

 of liirmers, and its profits are too uncertain to l)e 

 susceptible of any very accurate estimate. My 

 letter then must be considered as having relerent;e 

 ()urely to the rearing of cattle fur beef, milk and 

 butter. 



You will discover from my letter, that I was 

 but little inclined, at its date, to engage in the busi- 

 ness of caiile raising. I never have sufl^eied my 

 slock ofcatile, since that period, to increase beyond 

 twenty-five or thirty. I have aimed to keep them 

 as near the Ibrmer number as practicable, so as to 

 make them, compared with my sheep, as about 

 one lo ten. Thus my callle stock is annually 

 about as follows : eight milch cows, four eadi of 

 yearliiiixs, two years old, three ye rs old, lour 

 )ears old. and one bull. This makes 25. As 

 lour of these are killed or sold in the fall after they 

 are lour years old, their places are supplied by 

 lour sfiring culves, by wliich the numlter is kept 

 up. The balance of my calves are either veal- 

 ed, or sold at weaniriir time. Thus my cattle 

 slock, (if sold when grass lid, the lall afier lour 

 years old) will produce me, (sold to our neiL'hbor- 

 ing breihren) about one hundred ilollars. If I add 

 lor ihe lour supcfrnuiiierary calvea twenty (lobars, 

 1 then have one hundred and twentj- dollars for 

 the produce ol my cattle annually ; supposing no 

 deailis by casualties. A deduction of twenty doj. 

 lars on that score wou'd perhaps not be too much, 

 which woulil leave only one bundled dol'ais lor 

 profit. To I his, however, must I e added ihe va'ue 

 ol the milk and butter, from the eight cows, ihe value 

 of which 1 cannot well estimate in money. Il we 

 add one hundred dollars more on that account we 

 shall have, as the entire product of my cattle stock, 

 two hundred dollars, just half the annual value of 

 my sheep. Now as to ihe compar^itive cost of 

 keeping ihe two descriptions of slock, I have n^ 

 hesitation in sayinir, that the cost and tiouble of 

 kee[iing mj' two hundred and sixty sheep is le-s 

 ihan that ol' my iweniy-five head of caule. The 

 sheep require no corn ; and except when the 

 iimund is covered with snow, will subsist better 

 u[)on grass and rye pasture than any ihina you 

 can give them ; and require no labor of It-etiing, 

 except lor the very small portion of ih.*; winter 

 that the ground is covered with snow. When that 

 is the case they require a litlle hay or corn fodder. 

 It is necessary, however, that they should have a 

 irood range of blue-grass pasture, upon which, 

 ihouch very ehori, they will do better than upon 

 dry lood. 



My callle stock require to be fed betwern tlirpo 

 and lour monihr:, ^nd the nil.'h cows must tie grain 

 led at least until we adopt the root culture. 



There Is one diffiuuliy to be encountere], ir» 

 sheep husbandry, which I have not >ei mentioned. 

 D-ii^s are occasionally very desiructive to our 

 flocks. Perhaps I oiiirht not to consider this a 

 very L'reat disadvaniaL^e, as llie) have aided in 

 keeping down my fljck u> a numtier that I do not 

 wish to exci'cd, while iherc is so much unceriiiiniy 

 as 10 the period when we shall be deprived alto- 

 gether of a market lor line wool. I have looked 

 forward to that period, ever since the passage of 



