60 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



pects, treated more like outlaws than domestic animals. When out, all the flocks lath* 

 neighborhood mingle together. From their disposition to ramble, and the incursions of dogs, 

 they get scattered, and scarcely any fanner can get up to the fall shearing more than one- 

 half of his count. 



The region above described includes Pickens, Grenville and Spartansburg, so far as this 

 State is concerned. ^ Going east of this strip, you at once get into good land, where the set- 

 dements are frequent. Here snow is rare, and wheat, rye and barley are used for winter 

 pastures for sheep, and they continue growing during the winter. Wood grass does not 

 abound in this region, as the woods are not kept burnt.* 



Very respectfully, yours, &c. R. f. SIMPSON. 



The preceding statements give a sufficient idea of the expense of feed- 

 ing sheep in the Carolinas, Georgia, and the Gulf States. In all of these, 

 there is a striking similarity in soils and natural products, and also in cli 

 mate with, perhaps, the exception of North Carolina, which is a trifle 

 colder. In all of them, as wfell as in all the other Southern States, land 

 can be bought at the same low prices.t 



The cost of the winter forage of sheep in Tennessee may be inferred 

 from the statements of Mr. Kramer, (in Letter IV.) On even the lofty 

 Cumberland Mountains, in that State, grass grows during the entire win- 

 ter, and snow rarely covers the ground to exceed forty-eight hours'! Judge 

 Beatty's statements in relation to Kentucky (in the same letter) show that 

 the luxuriant blue-grass pastures of that State will sustain sheep during 

 the entire winter; and that they frequently obtain their whole subsistence 

 on the grasses, even on the mountains. Let us now turn to Virginia, the 

 most northern of the Southern States. In a recent letter to me, John S. 

 Skinner, Esq. says : 



" Hon. Mr. Coles, a Member of Congress from Virginia* a sedate, attentive and practical 

 fanner once informed me that his flock of 200 sheep, kept in good condition summer and 



winter, did not cost him $10 a year You must know that they, in the general 



way, as I believe, never feed their sheep, winter or summer, except where the ground is 

 covered with snow which is rarely the case, and then the snow does not lie more than a 

 day, or at most two days. . . . No doubt winter pasture might be provided by sowing 

 rye in the proper season (the usual system is to sow it the last thing, and as long as the 

 farmer can " catch a chance") and putting the ground in good condition ; and in that way 



adequate provision might be made for any deficiency of natural pasture When 



the snow does cover the ground in Virginia, they give the sheep corn-blades an excellent 

 fodder. I think the rule was when I was a boy (in the rare exigency alluded to) to give 

 them a bundle of hlades each. A bundle of blades compacted would be about as large as 

 the upper part of your arm." 



North- Western Virginia seems to be considerably colder than the corre- 

 sponding portion of tlio State east of the mountains ; and the winter fod- 

 dering season is not greatly shorter though the amount of fodder con- 

 sumed must be far less than in Western Pennsylvania, or in many por- 

 tions of N\v-York.|| Yet, singularly enough, more sheep are bred here 

 in proportion, probably, than in any other portion of the Southern States ! 



* Some other paragraphs from this letter arts omitted for quotation under the heads 01' which they specif- 

 ically treat 



t Hon. S. Strong, ft Member of Congress from this (N. Y.) State, writes me, after consultation \vith vari- 

 ous Southern Member*, thai " good lands may be purchased for $>1 50 per acre, and in great abundance, hi 

 most of the Southern State.*." 



Mr. Garret Andrew*, of Wilkcs Co., Georgia, in n communication in the American Agriculturist (April, 

 1844), save : "Several hundred acres (in thr. middle or hilly zone) are often gold for a dollar 1 pr left* per 

 ere. The usual rule is to fell the wood-land for what it may bo thought to be worth, and pivc the pur 



chaser the old landu and the houses for nothing For $1.000 or $1,500, a comfortable house and 



oat-hou'es, garden, &c. may be had, *vith *ereral hundred acres of land, . . wanting nothing but a fail 

 Chance to become ns fertile as may be <le*ired. . . . There is no end of the materials for manure." 



I recently 6-%v/ it staled by a ger-tleman in a communication which was published in ihe N. Y. Farmer acf 

 Mechani.-, that he was authorized to gicc away good land in the Cumberland Mountains to sober and indut 

 trioas eenlci*. 



The prices in inc N. C. Mountains will be seen from Mr. Clingman's letter, (Letter IV.) 



SMr. Coles resided in Pittsylvania, a county adjoining North Carolina, in the middle or hilly zone. 

 Jesse Edgifigtoil, of Hollidny's Cove, Brooke Co , Va.. writes me : " Our average time of foddering It 

 at least 4 month*, and we generally provide provender equal to 5 tons of hay for each hundred grow* 

 beep, fur the winter." 



