52 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER V. 



FROF1TS OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. I. D1RBC7 

 PROFIT ON CAPITAL INVESTED. 



Different points of view in which the question of the profitableness of Sheep Husbandry in the ?outhern 

 States is" to be regarded. ..Direct profit on Capital invested first considered. ..Average prices of Wool in 

 New- York... Average weight of fleece Price of Sheep Increase in Lambs Amount of Manure... Price 

 of Land... Number of Sheep supported per acre. .. Estimate of the Expenses nnd Profits of 100 Sheep, 

 taking average prices of Wool for the last fourteen years. ..Present low prices of Sheep Causes Esti- 

 mate of Profits of 100 Sheep, at present prices of Sheep and Wool. ..Profits far below what they might be 

 by breeding better Sheep. ..Writer's Flock Annual yield of Wool Prices sold at for six years Statistics 

 of Premium Flock. . .Show that Wool can be produced at a large profit in New-York at present prices. . . 

 Healthfulness and economy of substituting Mutton for a portion of the P.acon consumed in the Southern 

 States... Economical advantages which Sheep possess over other animals No risk by Death Manure 

 more valuable Best clearers of Briery Lands Improvers of Vegetation. ..The cost of producing Wool in 

 the South, compared with the cost in New-York... Number of Sheep which can be supported per acre 

 South Greater number than on land of the same quality North, by reason of the winter growth of grains 

 and grasses in the former... Col. Allston's statement 11. L. Allen's Col. Hampton's Hon. R. F. Simp- 

 son's in relation to the Atlantic States south of Virginia. ..Price of Lands in those States. ..Winter Vege- 

 tation in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. . .Mr. Coles's statement John S. Skinner's. . .Recapitulation. .. 

 Estimate of Profits on 100 Sheep South Compared with New-York. ..Profits on the Southern Mquntaina 

 ...Doct. Brockenboro's statements Mr. Murdock's. ..Economy of Migratory Sheep Husbandry. ..Advan- 

 tages for it in the South compared with those of Spain. ..Drawbacks on Profits of Sheep Husbandry 

 Dogs and Wolves.. -Their depredations compared with those in Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. .. 

 Remedy. 



Dear Sir: In ascertaining the Profits of Sheep Husbandry in the 

 Southern States, several considerations present themselves, apart from the 

 mere question of direct annual profit or loss on a given investment in 

 Sheep and in land for their subsistence. The more immediate and obvious 

 profit is doubtless the first question ; but in regarding the general advan- 

 tages or disadvantages of this branch of husbandly particularly in a re- 

 gion circumstanced in all particulars as the Southern States are we are 

 farther to consider the practicability and comparative economy of making it 

 the basis of an effectual amelioration in soils naturally sterile, or those 

 which have been rendered so by excessive and injudicious cultivation ; 

 and its comparative efficacy in giving to Southern Agriculture a mixed 

 and convertible character, and thereby sustaining (or improving) all the 

 present good tillage lands, in the place of continuing the " new and old 

 field " system (tilling land until it is worn out, then abandoning it and 

 opening new lands,) once so general, and even now by far too prevalent. 

 And there is another point of no mean importance : whether, independent 

 of preceding considerations, and even if the staples furnished by sheep 

 (husbandry proved no more profitable, in direct returns on capital invested, 

 than some of the present staples, it would not be better economy, on the 

 -whole, for the South to produce the raw material and manufacture domes- 

 tic woolens, particularly for the apparel and bedding of slaves, than to be 

 dependent for them on England or Massachusetts. 



To ascertain the direct and immediate profit on investment in sheep hus- 

 bandry, let us appeal to well settled facts and statistics, instead of content- 

 ing ourselves with vague and general propositions. For the following 

 Table of the average prices of good wool* in the State of New- York, which 

 was published in my replies to Mr. Walker's "Treasury Circular" in 



* Such wools as are used fcr the manufacture of broad and other cloth? of good quality ranging, say. 

 from 5th hlood Merino to pure Saxon excluding native, grade (below $th Merino) and alt English wool*. 



