SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 55 



It falls far short of that realized by breeders and flock-masters, who 

 started their flocks with the best pure-blood sheep then to be found in the 

 country ; and who have subsequently continued to improve them by great 

 care in breeding", and by a rigorous course of selection. 



I have bred Merino sheep for a number of years, and latterly in consid- 

 erable numbers : and in no case have my. grown sheep averaged less than 

 5 Ibs. of well washed wool per annum. The quality of the wool may be 

 inferred from a comparison of the prices at which it has sold, with those in 

 Table 7. In 1846, I sold for 35 cents per pound ; in 1845, for 331 cents ; 

 in 1844, for 48 cents ; in 1843, for 33 J cents ; in 1842, for 35 cents, and 

 KO on. 



To give more precise data, I select the following statement of the pro- 

 ducts of a flock, on which I drew the first premium offered by the New- 

 York State Agricultural Society for " the best managed flock of sheep," 

 in 1844 : 



I From the Transactions of the N. V. State Agricultural Society, 1844, p. 254.] 



In the winter of 1843-4, I wintered in a separate flock fifty-one ewes over one year 

 old, two ewe lambs, two rams, one of them one and one of them two years old. Of the ewee 

 over one year old, twenty-eight were full-blood Merinos ; twenty-three were half-blood Me- 

 rinos and hall-blood South-Downs ; the two ewe lambs were three-fourth-blood Merino and 

 one-fourth-blood South-Down : and the two rams were full-blood Merinos. The flock were 

 kept as follows through the winter: They were fed hay morning and night, and were, as a 

 general rale, recpi>red to eat it up clean. At noon the flock were daily led three bundles of 

 oats and barley (which had grown mixed, say three parts oats and one part* barley,) until 

 the 25th of December after which they recei\ r ed four bundles of oats. The grain was 

 light and shrunken. They received no hay at noon during the winter, and usually consumed 

 all the straw of the grain fed them. They had a good shelter, and access to pure water at 

 all limes. From this flock I raised fifty-three lambs. The full-blood Merinos, including 

 two rains, and the two three-fourth-blood lambs, (in all 'thirty -two,) sheared one hundred 

 and eighty-six pounds and four ounces of washed wool, which I sold at forty-eight cents per 

 pound. Four of the full-bloods had two years' fleeces on. The hall-blood Merinos and 

 half-blood South-Downs (twenty-three) sheared eighty and one-half pounds of washed wool, 

 seventy-one pounds of which I sold at thirty-eight cents per pound. During the summer of 

 1844, the flock were kept in good ordinary pasture, and salted once a week." 



Thus, the Merino fleeces averaged 5 Ibs. 13-jL oz. and sold for $2 79| each ; 

 and the grades between Merino and South-Down averaged 3 Ibs. 8 oz. to 

 the fleece, and sold for $1 33 each. 



It will be observed that four of the full-bloods (they were ewes) had 

 two years' fleeces on. A two years' fleece will not weigh as much as two 

 single years' fleeces from the same sheep. On the average, it will weigh 

 about three-quarters as much.* On the other hand, the lot included two 

 three-quarter-blood lamb fleeces, which would fall below the average 

 weight of the others, and a portion of the flock were yearlings and two- 

 year olds. The Merino never attains its maximum weight of fleece before 

 three years old, and ordinarily not until four, and therefore the aggregate 

 weight of wool of the 32 sheep, given above, does not, to say the least of 

 it, give too favorable a view of the product of sheep of this quality. Thi* 

 is proved by the fact that my entire flock of full-bloods sheared abouf 

 three-twentieths of an ounce over six pounds each, the succeeding year. 



It would give me great pleasure to subjoin similar statistics of other 

 carefully bred flocks, were authorized statements of them in my posses- 

 sion, or published within my knowledge. 



It is sufficiently apparent from the above facts and estimates, that woo. 

 has not yet reached the lowest point at which it can be produced at an 

 ample profit, on lands of the value indicated, iftlie sheep are of the froper 



* That is to Bay / the ehsrfe years' fleeces would equal 6 Ibs. each, a two years' fleeco, instend of weigii- 

 fag twice as much, or 12 IbsJ will not exceed three-quarters of such aggregate weight, or 9 Iba. The wool 

 wastes when it becomes so long, and perhaps does not grow so rapidly. 



