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priated, it falls down and is lost to the world. Look at the 

 fertile valleys of East Tennessee, where rich crops could be 

 produced to feed enormous flocks that are or can be sum- 

 mered on the slopes of the surrounding mountains! See 

 the vast plateau that spreads over the top of the Cumber- 

 land mountains, rich in all the native grasses, extending 

 from Kentucky diagonally to Georgia and Alabama, fully 

 fifty miles wide; then, on the foothills, and on the great 

 rim of Middle Tennessee, that embraces nearly ten thousand 

 square miles of Middle Tennessee. Go still further west, 

 and large quantities of the West Tennessee plateau is in its 

 primeval condition. The sound of the ax or the greeting of 

 the house dog is almost unheard on the Cumberland plateau. 

 But herbage, rich and succulent, is there, springing up but 

 to wither away. All this and more. Not a single farm in 

 the whole State, perhaps, is stocked with sheep to its full 

 capacity. There are vast areas of rich pastures, and many 

 tons of grain are produced and sold with great labor to the 

 consumer, while it could find in the presence of flocks of 

 sheep consumers that would pay far more for it than could 

 be obtained at the " store." Here, upon these rich farms, 

 the heavy mutton sheep, carrying its great hump of comb- 

 ing wool, could be most profitably raised. But it demands 

 the most careful attention, and cannot be left to chance. 

 It is far more profitable than cotton culture, and in- 

 volves much less actual labor, though unremitting attention. 

 What a vast field opens to the view in this State alone. 

 How much actual wealth could be added to the common- 

 wealth of Tennessee if every farmer would raise sheep no 

 one can comprehend. 



Still, as great as the breadth is, it must not be thought 

 that all land is suited for sheep. Quite the reverse is true. 

 Fortunately, the larger portion of our State will admit of 

 sheep raising in the greatest perfection. Sheep naturally 

 belong to mountains, and a broken surface seems to agree 

 with them better than a level one. One thing they cannot 

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