[971 



of a pile, not a rack or stack, of straw. To excuse them- 

 selves from stinginess, some old gentleman originated the 

 idea that corn caused them to shed their wool. It no doubt 

 had that effect in the quantity fed, but it was the want of it 

 rather than the use of it. Many a poor sheep has bleached 

 its bones upon the hillsides of Tennessee, a victim to this false 

 aphorism. 



Attention to the diet therefore falls under two heads; 

 first, stock sheep; second, fattening sheep for mutton. 



FEEDING STOCK SHEEP. 



Fortunately for the Southern farmer there is no want of 

 variety of food for sheep. Besides the winter pastures, such 

 as blue-grass, mosses, barren grasses, rye, wheat and barley, 

 we have hay of various kinds, such as timothy, herdVgrass, 

 orchard grass, clovers, sorghum and dhoura; we have 

 straws, pea vines, fodder, oats, peas, beans, corn, barley, rye, 

 cotton seed and oil-cake, bran, meal, turnips, beets, carrots, 

 rutabagas, mangel- wurtzel, and in fact our list of diet is equal 

 to the bills of fare of the most fashionable hotels of the 

 country. The sheep as nearly as any other is an omniv- 

 orous animal, and they will thrive on anything, from the 

 buds and twigs of a thicket to the best of animal food. As 

 has been already stated, but little special preparation is made 

 for a flock of sheep, the owner being content to carry them 

 through a winter on anything that may be at hand, in most 

 instances contenting himself to let the sheep barely subsist 

 upon the scant pickings of the field or forest. But as this 

 work is not intended for a merely reading book, but to give 

 such instruction to those seeking it as will enable them suc- 

 cessfully to, not only carry their flocks alive through a win- 

 ter, but to have them fit for market at any time during the 

 year they may wish to convert them into food. Therefore 

 we will first examine into the relative value of the different 

 kinds of food, as the amount of nutrition each may contain 

 7 



