CHAPTER VIII. 



THE SHEEP HUSBANDRY OF KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, MISSISSIPPI, 

 ALABAMA, AND FLORIDA. 



It is doubtful if there is any other section of the United States that 

 presents so many natural advantages for the successful and profitable 

 raising of sheep as that bounded by the Appalachian Mountains on the 

 east and the Mississippi Kiver on the west, and extending from the 

 Ohio River on the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the south. Possess- 

 ing an equable climate, where the cold is not so severe during winter 

 as to make the feeding of sheep a necessity, nor the heats of summer 

 so intense as to work a degeneration in the character of the fleece, it 

 has been justly considered an ideal sheep country. Particularly does 

 this apply to the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, and the northern 

 parts of Alabama and Mississippi. Here land is cheap and good, well 

 watered, and the pasturage unrivaled for its quality and nowhere 

 exceeded in abundance. Markets for wool and mutton are within easy 

 reach, and nothing seems lacking in conditions for success. With all 

 these natural advantages there is no section of the Union where sheep 

 are fewer or more worthless, or where sheep husbandry is in a more 

 deplorable condition. The exceptions to this statement are found only 

 in some sections of Kentucky and Tennessee. The sheep inhabiting 

 this large section are scrubs of English and Spanish breeds, descended 

 from those of the pioneer settlers, and have undergone no improve- 

 ment at the hand of man, but have lived, propagated, and cared for 

 themselves in spite of his indifference and neglect and the voracity of 

 his dog. 



KENTUCKY. 



The pioneer sheep of Kentucky were those common to Virginia, and 

 gave a coarse wool that worked up well in the household manufacture. 

 They are now represented in the mountain sheep of the State and play 

 no insignificant part in the sheep husbandry of the present day. The 

 first Merinos south of the Ohio River were two animals sold by Seth 

 Adams, in 1809, to Judge Todd, of Kentucky, for $1,500. In 1810 Mr. 

 Adams sold many Humphreys sheep to various parties in Kentucky 

 and Tennessee. Some of these were full-bloods, but the most of them 

 were half bloods. Among the sales were 85 to Col. James Trotter, of 

 Lexington, half of them full-blooded Humphreys Merinos. In 1811 

 Lewis Sanders, a Mr. Prentiss, and others, of Lexington, introduced 



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