SHEEP IIUSCANDRV IN THE SOUTH. 325 



know that a sufficient number of experiments have been made as near the 

 Equator as Caj)e Town and Port Jackson, to have their testimony regard- 

 ed as entirely decisive on the point under consideration, but those have 

 been made which throw much Hjrht on tliis question, if, indeed, any more 

 is considered necessary. In the soutli of IlUnois (Edwards county), in 

 about latitude 38° 30', the finest varieties of sheep were introduced by 

 Mr. George Flower, about twenty years since, from which he has bred up 

 an extensive flock. That gentleman says :* " No deterioration in the wool 

 has taken place ; on the contrary, the wool fibre is somewhat finer." I 

 have myself seen various specimens of Mr. Flower's wool, of the clip of 

 1844, and it bore an excellent character for fineness and evenness. 



In a letter which I received from Hon. Henry Clay, in 1839, he says : 

 " I have for some years had only the pure Saxony at my residence ; but I 

 am now satisfied that I should have derived more profit from sheep pro- 

 ducing a wool less fine.t The climate of Kentucky is, however, well 

 adapted to the Saxon sheep." Mr. Clay's residence is in about latitude 38°. 



Mr. Mark R. Cocki-ill, of Xashville, Tennessee, in a letter published in 

 the American Sliepherd,| says : 



" I have about a thoiisaiicl head of fiiie slieep, and from 400 to 500 loiij-wooled or mutton 

 sheep. My Saxon sheep were imported in 1824 or '26 — I caiuiot say which — and I find as 

 yet no falling off in quiuitity or quahty of their fleeces ; on the coutrar\% I believe a little 

 improvement on both jioints, and a little more yolk, when well provided for, svhich, you 

 know, does not aliound much in tiie Saxon breed. In addition, the fleeces are a little more 

 compact th;m tormerly — hence more weight ; and, from our mild climate, the xlaplc has be- 

 come longer. . . I assert it to be a fact tiiat tiie cotton region I am now in [Mr. Cockrill 

 dates from Madison county, Mississippi, where a j):ut of his sheep are kept], in about lati- 

 tude 32^ north, is belter than any country nortli of it to grow wool, as the sheep can be kept 

 all the time grazing, by sowing small grain ; for, if grazed off, it (piickly gi'ows again in a 

 few days; and the wixA of the fine .Saxon sheep in this climate is softer and more cotton-like 

 than any I have ever seen, althouirli I have sani[)les from all parts of the world. I have 

 traveled from this very jjlace to Boston, sampling all the .sheej) of note on tln^ way, and I 

 found nothing on my jonniey or at Boston as good as the wool I had gi't)\\ni, ami so sjiid all 

 the wool staplers whom I met with, and they were not a few. I presumed, in reality, that 

 the blood of my sheep was no better than in;my I saw, but the superioiitj' of my wool I tis- 

 cribed to our climate, and the provision for the .sheep of succiUent food the year round. — 

 The weight of my fle(!ces is fair — say from 3 to 5^ lbs. each. . . Tennessee is not the true 

 erass clhnate ; about 28^ north is the most congenial for grass : notwithstanding, our State is 

 lair for pasture ; blue and orchard gi~tss, white and red clover, [)i-osp(n- ])retr\- well. . . 

 There is much country in Temiessee and other Southern States not fit for the plow, and 

 Avould do admirably well for fine-wooled sheep, and can be profitably so employed. A small 

 capital thus appropriated here hi Mississippi would do better than cotton gi-owing at present 

 prices." 



Nashville is in about latitude 37° 15' ; and Madison county, Mississippi, 

 is about half a degree farther north than mentioned by Mr. Cockrill, viz. 

 extending from 32^° to 33°; its county seat (Canton) being more than a 

 degree nearer the Equator than Port .Jackson in Australia, and about two 

 degrees nearer than the Cape of Good Hope ! 



Mr. Morrel, the compiler of the "American Shepherd," has obtained 

 specimens of Mr. Cockrill's wool, and he says of them, " Judging from the 

 samples, the conclusion is inevitable that little or no deterioration has been 

 produced by the climate. "|| 



This testimony of Mr. Cockrill is very important, both from the length 

 and extent of the experiment. I have no doubt of the perfect correctness 

 of his assertion that his wool has improved in those low latitudes ; but the 

 cause assigned by him cannot be received as the correct one, so far as the 

 increased fineness of the fibre is concerned. The improvement in this par- 

 ticular, under a system of feeding which has " increased" both the " quan- 



* In a letter published in the Prairie Farmer. t Mr. Clay here alludes to the .Merinos. 

 t P. 409. II American Shenherd, p. 41. 



(GCl) 



