EAST OF THE mSSISSIPPI RIVER. 



685 



The return from this wool admits of easy calculation. The sheep 

 averaged about 3 pounds, which, at 26 cents per pound, makes 78 cents. 

 The wool, though little better than carpet wool, sells at a good figure, 

 because of the slight shrinkage in scouring. This shrinkage is seldom 

 more than 35 per cent. The return from mutton is so uncertain that 

 no reliable estimate can be made, but it will not, in general, exceed 60 

 cents, unless sent to the New Orleans market. The sheep belonging to 

 the poor whites are seldom sold for mutton. 



The natives claim that the piney woods sheep are capable of but little 

 improvement, and that improved breeds will not do well, because one 

 man, some ten or twelve years ago, bought a Merino ram, for which he 

 paid $100, turned him out with 1,000 ewes, and he died. That settled 

 the question as to improved stock in that section of country. A recent 

 writer, in noticing the want of interest in the sheep in this section of 

 the South, makes this comment on the system, or want of it, followed 

 by the farmer : 



Those who raise sheep, if allowing them to roam in the pine woods can be called 

 raising, thoroughly understand the animal with which they deal. Intelligent North- 

 erners who have gone South to teach the natives how to raise sheep have uniformly 

 failed, not only to instruct, but to succeed themselves. But, though the Southerner 

 understands his sheep as they are, he has not the remotest idea how to improve either 

 the mutton or the wool. Like the Armenian or Persian, he can handle profitably the 

 sheep which his father and grandfather raised before him; but give him an animal 

 which requires a different treatment and he will invariably fail. The sheep of Ten- 

 nessee, Mississippi, and Alabama are absolutely unimproved, and in spite of prohibi- 

 tory tariffs they will so remain until immigration or education changes the character 

 of the inhabitants.* 



Whether from " immigration or education, 7 ' or from other causes, great 

 improvement in the live stock of the State is observable in the last five 

 years, and stock-raising gives promise of success. Large areas are 

 being fenced in for grazing purposes, and grasses sown for early spring 

 use. The sheep have had some share in this interest, but there is great 

 objection to their grazing with other stock, on account of their nipping 

 the grass too close. 



Sheep and wool of Mississ^pi, 1840 to 1890. 



F Our Sheep and the Tariff. William Draper Lewis, 1890. 



