122 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



6. That no part of the Eastern Continent or its islands, all things con- 

 sidered, possess equal advantages for wool-growing with some parts of 

 the United States. 1. The climate of many portions of the latter (in the 

 South) is not excelled by that of the most favored situations in Hungary 

 or Australia ; and in this respect it is decidedly superior to the south of 

 Russia. 2. The soils of vast sections of the United States, with the above 

 climate, are more uniformly fertile and adapted to pasturage than those of 

 either Hungary or Southern Russia and, as a whole, are entirely supe- 

 rior to those of Australia. 3. The regions alluded to in the United States, 

 are better watered with running streams than either of the other named 

 countries have not the vast and unhealthy morasses of Hungary and 

 are not subject to the destructive drouths of Australia. 4. The land is 

 cheaper in the United States than in Australia, and (my impression is) 

 than in Hungary or Southern Russia ; and, in the Southern States, labor 

 costs ho more than in the two latter, and far less than in the former. 5. In 

 accessibility arid nearness even to the great European wool market, the 

 United States stand on equal terms, at least, with Hungary and Southern 

 Russia, and the distance from Sydney (in Australia) to London is nearly 

 four times the distance from New- York to London. 6. In no respect do 

 either of these countries,' the most favored in the Old World, excel, in my 

 judgment, for the purposes of Sheep Husbandry, large portions of the 

 United States ; and I believe those portions of the United States can sell 

 wool in the English market at a better profit on all the capital invested 

 than either of the above countries, with the possible exception of the most 

 favored portions of Hungary. 



Our surplus wools can, therefore, at any time, be exported to England 

 at a reasonable profit. This is true, even of wools grown in the Northern 

 States. In 1845, the United States exported wool, (mainly to England,) to 

 the value of $22,153 ; and in 1846, to the value of $203,996. This was a 

 commercial experiment, and although it is not understood to have resulted 

 in any profit to the exporters, the wool sold at an advance on the Ameri- 

 can prices current and would have sold so as to have realized a handsome 

 profit to the exporters,, had it been properly sorted and otherwise prepared 

 to meet the requisitions of the English market. Statements of this kind 

 have been published by one of the most prominent of the exporters. It 

 would seem, from Mr. Lawrence's statement, already quoted, that the 

 prices of Australian wools have not yielded a profit over all expenses, 

 during the same years. The quality and style of our wool have been 

 praised by the English press, and are understood to have given high satis- 

 faction to the English manufacturers. On the whole, then, we may regard 

 this experiment as a successful one. The American prices current of those 

 years were about 32 cents per pound. We have seen that the actual cost 

 of wool (including all expenses, and 7 per cent, on price of land and sheep) 

 in the Northern States may be eet down at about 27 cents per pound.* 

 These facts show that a remunerating price can be obtained for even North- 

 ern wool in England if a profit on investment considerably exceeding 

 the highest legal rate of interest (7 per centum) is to be considered " re- 

 munerating." And if this is true of the Northern wools of the United 

 States, how much more so would it be of those of the South, the first cost 

 of which has been estimated at less than one-third that of the former ! t 



I see not, therefore, a shadow of a reason why our Southern States 

 might not embark, at once, with perfect safety, in an extensive production 

 of wool, if they had only the foreign market to look to. I hesitate not to 



* Bee Letter V. t Ib. 



