682 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



" Sheep Husbandry in the South." From this time sheep husbandry 

 began to attract more attention, and there was an inquiry for improved 

 breeds. 



But sheep husbandry made no substantial progress. Sheep were 

 healthy and flocks multiplied with great rapidity, but dogs cut oft* the 

 increase, and, as is generally the case, the destruction was of the best 

 sheep, and the increase was confined to the common sheep. With all 

 the natural advantages of climate and good pasturage the improvement 

 of sheep was practically abandoned by 1850, although the census fig- 

 ures show an increase from 128,367 sheep in 1840 to 304,929 in 1850. 

 In this latter year there were Southdowns, Merinos, and other blooded 

 sheep, but they bore no appreciable proportion to the great number of 

 mixed blood and common sheep. The common scrub was the most 

 healthy, consequently the most popular. They ran on waste laud and 

 in open woods, and cost next to nothing, ordinarily not being fed at all, 

 and only when necessity compelled were they given a few blades of Indian 

 corn. Those in the southern part of the State had no feed of any kind 

 except what they hunted themselves, and they had no attention. With 

 all these advantages there were but small flocks kept barely for domes- 

 tic or family use, giving about 2 pounds of wool per head on the aver- 

 age and furnishing mutton that was claimed to be equal to any in the 

 world. In general, all effort at improvement had been abandoned; the 

 exceptions were on a few plantations where the Southdown was raised 

 for mutton and the Merino for wool. 



There was an increase in the number of sheep from 1850 to 1860, but 

 there was no improvement worth noting. Occasionally a planter 

 brought from a Northern State an improved sheep and put with the 

 common ewes, but lack of attention and knowledge of the art of hand- 

 ling sheep frustrated his good intention. 



The war of the rebellion operated against sheep husbandry in the 

 State. Flocks were almost entirely neglected and attention was diverted 

 to raising horses, hogs, mules, and cattle to supply the wants of the 

 Confederate army. The State was one of the chief granaries of the 

 South. The close of the conflict found nearly all of the sheep of the cen- 

 tral and northern part of the State destroyed, and no immediate effort 

 was made to replace them. The price of cotton ran so high that the 

 farmers were dazed and parted with their stock^ destroyed all pasturage, 

 and went to raising cotfon. The pasturage on which sheep and other 

 live stock subsisted was looked upon as a curse, and an energetic war 

 was waged against it. This was a decade of sharp decline, and the 

 number of sheep fell from 352,632 in 1860 to 232,732 in 1870. The 

 decline continued until 1874, when the lowest point was reached since 

 1840. There was now an increasing interest in live stock of every kind, 

 and sheep came in for a share of attention. The exclusive culture of 

 cotton had proven unwise and unprofitable, and grass and stock 

 assumed more importance. The grass that had been banished from 



