SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



know that a sufficient number of experiments have bee", made as near the 

 Equator as Cape Town and Port Jackson, to have their testimony regard- 

 ed as entirely decisive on the point under consideration, but those have 

 been made which throw much light on this question, if, indeed, any more 

 is considered necessary. In the south of Illinois (Edwards county), in 

 about latitude 38 30', the finest varieties of sheep were introduced by 

 Mr. George Flower, about twenty years since, from which he has bred up 

 an extensive flock. That gentleman says :* " No deterioration in the wool 

 has taken place ; on the contrary, the wool fibre is somewhat finer." I 

 have myself seen various specimens of Mr. Flower's wool, of the clip of 

 1844, and it bore an excellent character for fineness and evenness. 



In a letter which I received from Hon. Henry Clay, in 1839, he says : 

 " I have for some years had only the pure Saxony at my residence ; but I 

 am now satisfied that I should have derived more profit from sheep pro- 

 ducing a wool less fine.f The climate of Kentucky is, however, well 

 adapted to the Saxon sheep." Mr. Clay's residence is in about latitude 38. 



Mr. Mark R. Cockrill, of Nashville, Tennessee, in a letter published in 

 the American Shepherd,| says : 



" I have about a thousand head of fine sheep, and from 400 to 500 long-wooled or mutton 

 eheep. My Saxon sheep were imported in 1824 or '26 I cannot say which and I find as 

 yet no falling off in quantity or quality of their fleeces ; on the contrary, I believe a little 

 improvement on both points, and a little more yolk, when well provided for, which, you 

 know, does not abound much in the Saxon breed. In addition, the fleeces are a little more 

 compact than formerly hence more weight ; and, from our mild climate, the staple has be- 

 come longer. . . I assert it to be a fact that the cotton region I am now in [Mr. Cockrill 

 dates from Madison county, Mississippi, where a part of his sheep are kept], in about lati 

 tude 32 north, is better than any country north of it to grow wool, as the sheep can be kept 

 all the time grazing, by sowing small grain ; for, if grazed off, it quickly grows again in a 

 "ew days ; and the wool of the fine Saxon sheep in this climate is softer and more cotton-like 

 than any I have ever seen, although I have samples from all parts of the world. I have 

 traveled from this very place to Boston, sampling all the sheep of note on the way, and I 

 found nothing 011 my journey or at Boston as good as the wool I had grown, and so said all 

 the wool staplers whom I met with, and they were not a few. I presumed, in reality, that 

 the blood of my sheep was no better than many I saw, but the superiority of my wool I as- 

 cribed to our climate, and the provision for the sheep of succulent food the year round. 

 The weight of my fleeces is fair say from 3 to 5 Ibs. each. . . Tennessee is not the true 

 grass climate ; about 28 north is the most congenial for grass : notwithstanding, our State is 

 fair for pasture ; blue and oi'chard grass, white and red clover, prosper pretty well. . . 

 There is much country in Tennessee and other Southern States not fit for the plow, and 

 would do admirably well for fine-wooled sheep, and can be profitably so employed. A small 

 capital thus appropriated here in Mississippi would 3o better than cotton growing at present 

 prices." 



Nashville is in about latitude 37 15' ; and Madison county, Mississippi 

 is about half a degree farther north than mentioned by Mr. Cockrill, viz 

 extending from 32^ to 33 ; its county seat (Canton) being more than a 

 degree nearer the Equator than Port Jackson in Australia, and about twc 

 degrees nearer than the Cape of Good Hope ! 



Mr. Morrel, the compiler of the " American Shepherd," has obtained 

 specimens of Mr. Cockrill's wool, and he says of them, " Judging from the 

 samples, the conclusion is inevitable that little or no deterioration has been 

 produced by the climate."|| 



This testimony of Mr. Cockrill is very important, both from the length 

 and extent of the experiment. I have no doubt of the perfect correctnesb 

 of his assertion that his wool has improved in those low latitudes ; but the 

 cause assigned by him cannot be received as the correct one, so far as the 

 increased fineness of the fibre is concerned. The improvement in this par- 

 ticular, under a system of feeding which has " increased" both the " quan- 



" In a letter published in the Prairie Farmer. t Mr. Clay here alludes to the MeMnos. 

 J P. 409. 11 American Shepherd, p. 41. 



