[39] 



land upon the mountain with a grant from the State, bear- 

 ing the great seal of authority, and have no title. 



2. The second advantage these mountain lands offer for 

 sheep raising is in the wide range of pasturago. The open 

 woods permit the luxuriant gr6wth of nutritious herbs and 

 grasses throughout the summer, and will subsist millions of 

 sheep for eight months in the year without any other care 

 than salting. 



3. A third advantage may be found in the dry ness of the 

 sandstone soil, which insures exemption from many of the 

 diseases fatal to sheep. No foot ail, no braxy, no impaired 

 organs of digestion, no blind staggers, and, indeed, no other 

 disease than old age, or starvation through want of care, has 

 ever attacked them. No do flies annoy or vex flocks as 

 they do in the lower plains. 



There are also some disadvantages attending raising 

 sheep upon this mountain. The pasturage is so extensive 

 that they often stray off arid are lost. There is, also, the 

 calycanthus, that on some of the slopes grows vigorously, 

 bearing seed, readily eaten by sheep in winter, and which is 

 a deadly poison. To guard against this, sheep should be 

 driven up and fed before the rigor of winter and the scarcity 

 of grass compel them to devour such food. Another draw- 

 back will be found in the distance from market. While the 

 wool may be easily conveyed to shipping points at a small 

 cost, mutton sheep would suffer much in flesh by being 

 driven long distances. Of all this region, embracing more 

 than 3,000,000 acres, less than 500,000 acres are within easy 

 reach of railroads or navigable streams. 



Several experiments on a large scale have been made on 

 this Table- land in sheep growing, but most of them have 

 failed because sufficient attention was not given to providing 

 provender for winter. And yet there is no good reason why 

 this should be so. It is true that corn will not, as a general 

 thing, except, probably, in Scott and Morgan counties, re- 

 pay the cost of cultivation, but there are other crops that 



