SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 57 



made in mutton, it would be far cheaper, and, if I have not erred in previ- 

 ous statements, better for the slave. 



There are two or three other highly favorable considerations to oe taken 

 into account among the direct profits of rearing sheep. 



The risk by death, by ordinary causes, is nothing. Two per cent, is al- 

 lowed in the preceding estimates, as the full product of wool and increase 

 is earned out. But, in reality, the sheep never dies " insolvent." If the 

 colt or the bullock dies on our hands, after two or three years of trouble 

 and expense with it, the loss is nearly a total one. If the fine-wooled 

 sheep dies at any age, the wool then on it, or what it has already produced, 

 more than covers all the cost which it has ever made us.* 



Not only is the winter manure of the sheep superior to that of any other 

 domestic animal, the hog and fowl excepted, but it practically becomes 

 still more so in proportion, in summer, when scattered over the pastures, 

 by reason of the conditions in which it is deposited. The soft porous ex- 

 crements of the cowf or horse, exposed to the exsiccating action of sun and 

 wind, evolve most of their fertilizing properties into the atmosphere, and 

 this effect would increase in proportion to the warmth of the climate. The 

 excrements of the sheep, on the other hand, are deposited in small, hard, 

 rounded pellets, which fall down between the leaves of the grass, and arc- 

 thus in a great measure protected from the sun and wind, until they are 

 trodden into and incorporated with the soil.J Then, again, they need no 

 spreading,)! like the dung of the horse and cow. And finally, instinct, in 

 leading the sheep almost invariably to seek the summits of the elevations, 

 in warm weather, for its night quarters, leads it to deposit much more ma- 

 nure in proportion, where it is most needed, on the drier and more barren 

 hill-tops ; and where, being more remote from water-courses, less of its 

 juices are liable to be washed away by rains, into the streams, or on to the 

 lands of others. 



Sheep are also far more efficient than any other animal (if we except 

 the worthless goat) in clearing up new lands, or neglected old ones, ol 

 those briers and shrubs which it is often difficult to eradicate without plow 

 ing; and they often abound on lands which cannot be plowed with profit. 

 And, when plowed, the shrubs in. the fence corners must be left (to the 

 utter shame of all good husbandry), or the fence must be removed-^ some- 

 times at a great inconvenience. The sheep delights to browse on the buds, 

 and to strip the bark of most shrubs, and they thus soon destroy them. It 

 would be good economy for the farmer to keep his neighbors' sheep, with- 

 out charge, on all very briery or coppiced unarable lands, if he could not 

 o stock them himself. 



Finally, it is generally believed by experienced flock-masters and ob- 

 servation has led me to fully coincide in the opinion that sheep not onlv 

 improve the lands they depasture more than any other animal, but that 

 they exert an almost specific influence in improving tlic character of tft, 

 vegetation. All wild, poor grasses gradually disappear from their pastures 



* I speak, of course, of the cost of rearing and feeding. 



t Gaxzeri found that 100 parts of recent cow-dung contain 25 per cent, of dry, solid matter, and that 5 pp 

 eea'c. of this is lost in 40 days by exposure to the air. I do not think this indicateu the full loss which woulc 

 be sustained in a southern latitude. 



I These rounded pellets are covered, too, in the animal in good condition, with a coating of mucus, which 

 ferther protects them from evaporation. 



|| Their urine, also, is voided in quantities which render it highly beneficial ; while that of the horse and 

 eo* is voided in such large quantities in one place that it is not only in a great measure wasted, but in a 

 Jry dme (so that it is not diluted by the moisture in the soil), its rich salts, so far from benefiting, actually 

 kill the verdure. 



This is particularly true of the blackberry or bramble (Ri/brus villostts), and the raspberry (Rubut 

 idneus), -)ften great pests on new or neglected lands at the North. Sheep can even be made to attack the 

 elder (Sambucus canadtnsis var. pubescent), and various other troublesome intruders, by turning them upo 

 them in thawing " spells," in the winter, after they have been for gome time confined to dry feed. 



H 



