EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 465 



per head; the Merinos $6.20. It was believed that these figures could 

 be increased by better attention, as grasses and herbage rendered the 

 county a paradise for sheep. In Middlesex County 100 acres would 

 graze 40 sheep, and by adding $1 to each sheep for winter feeding the 

 following result was figured out : 



For 100 acres $600.00 



Interest on money 36. 00 



2 rams and 40 ewes 100. 00 



Interest on same . . 6. 00 



742.00 



From 40 ewes, 50 lambs at $4 200. 00 



294 ponnds wool, at 25 cents per pound 73. 50 



273.50 



A gentleman in New Kent County, Va., writes that he keeps 100 com- 

 mon ewes; breeds to Southdown ; sells an average of 80 lambs annually, 

 at * 4 each, and obtains enough for wool to pay all expenses of keeping, 

 while the benefit received by his land is equal to the interest on its 

 value, leaving the receipts for lambs as interest and profits on invest- 

 ment. Another, in Clarke County, Ya., tried Merinos and Cots wolds. 

 Both breeds did well, but while the .Merino lambs brought $2 each, the 

 Cotswolds were worth $4, and the prolificacy of the Cotswolds was far 

 greater. 



In a system of mixed husbandry which, sooner or later, must be adopted 

 by every State of the South, the sheep must be an important factor. 

 To them must be committed the renovation of the worn-out lands and 

 the sustenance of the present crop-yielding fields. They are the only 

 animals which do not exhaust the land upon which they feed. Above 

 all, they permanently improve it, and it is said of English agriculture 

 that while there is no profit in growing sheep in England simply for 

 their mutton and wool, sheep husbandry is still a necessity as the sole 

 means of keeping up the laud. 



The same necessity exists in this country where some of the lands 

 have been cropped to death. A case frequently cited is that of Mr. Wil- 

 liam Chamberlain, of Red Hook, Dutchess County, N. Y., the importer 

 of the Silesian sheep, who purchased in 1840 a farm in that place of 380 

 acres, which had been used so long for selling hay that it was worn out. 

 The hay crop in 1841 was 17 loads; 40 acres of rye gave 10 bushels to 

 the acre; 25 acres of corn averaged 20 bushels to the acre; the rest 

 of the farm pastured 2 horses, 4 oxen, and 1 cow. The land was so poor 

 that it would not raise red clover. By using sheep as the producers 

 and manufacturers of manure, he made this worn-out farm surprisingly 

 productive. The product in 1866 was 600 tons of hay ; 40 acres of Indian 

 corn, yielding 50 bushels to the acre; 30 acres of wheat, averaging 15 

 bushels; 30 acres of oats; 8 acres of roots, and the pasturage of 300 

 sheep, and of the teams, cows, etc., necessary to carry on the farm and 

 22990 30 



