472 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



North Carolina embraces within its limits 48,000 square miles, of 

 which Mr. Young, heretofore quoted, says : 



Of this immense territory it may be said there is not a square mile of soil which is 

 not susceptible of being made to produce a remunerative yield of tillage, and not one 

 upon which would not ordinarily be found a good natural pasturage for sheep ; nor is 

 there a square mile of it upon which, when sheep were introduced and cared for, 

 would not, year by year, be improved by their presence and pasturage upon it. 

 There is no part of the State which does not possess immense natural advantages in 

 soil and climate over the Southdown hills of England, the sterility of which ren- 

 dered them almost uninhabitable until sheep were introduced upon them, by which 

 they have been converted into the greenest meadows of the island. In the moun- 

 tains and hill country more winter provisions would be required than in the bal- 

 ance of the State; but the shortness of the season would not demand much expense 

 nor render the care of flocks burdensome. In three-fourths of the State no other 

 winter provision would be necessary than the sowing of grasses and small grain for 

 their pasturage, and the providing of cheap shelters from occasional seasons of 

 inclemency. The farmers have practiced the habit of grazing their sheep upon 

 their fields of small grain during the winter, which, when judiciously done, rather 

 contributes to than detracts from their yield at harvest. In the pine lands and 

 tide- water portion of the State they do live independent of the care of man, but 

 certainly would reward him for care and attention. 



The mountain portion of North Carolina, embracing some twenty counties, pos- 

 sesses a soil unsurpassed for fertility by any similar extent of mountain country on 

 our continent. Here the celebrated blue-grass is an indigenous growth, and the 

 mountain sides and alluvial valleys alike make the finest meadows of this favorite 

 and never- failing pasturage. The winters here are short, and free from that intensity 

 which characterizes more northern latitudes. This mountain portion of the State 

 softens down eastward into a hill and dale plateau, embracing as many more counties, 

 and this is succeeded by a lovely champaign country, extending to the Atlantic coast. 

 The soil of this extensive mountain and upland country, embracing some sixty of the 

 ninety-one counties in the State, is varied in character. A large proportion of it, 

 having a rich clay subsoil, yields abundant crops of the cereals and of cotton and 

 tobacco, and the balance, having an admixture of sand, is more easily cultivated, 

 and, with light fertilization, yields quite as abundant harvests. All is susceptible 

 of the highest degree of improvement, and all produces native as well as sown and 

 cultivated grasses to a high degree of perfection. 



Upon this mountain and upland country there can be grown every 

 valuable breed of sheep known to the American shepherd, a-nd efforts 

 to raise large flocks have been unsuccessful, not by any want of pastur- 

 age or hostility of natural surroundings, but by the inattention of man 

 and too great attention of the dogs. The Merinos have been tried in 

 the foot-hills and on the uplands, and found to thrive surprisingly well, 

 and where attention has been given improved English breeds have done 

 well on the uplands and in some parts of the tide- water region. One 

 of the most recent and interesting experiments was with the Cheviot 

 sheep in 1884. In the fall of that year a pair of them were turned out 

 on the mountain range in the western part of the State, with no more 

 care given them than the native sheep had, and they passed through 

 the winter in good order. The ram, a yearling, sheared 11J pounds of 

 fine long wool; the ewe dropped two lambs, one of which was lost. 

 There were some half-bred lambs from a cross of the Cheviot ram on 



