SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 359 



■the Transition order.* Its soil varies from thin and light to that of exu- 

 berant fertility. West of the mountains, tlic hilly zone rests on Transition 

 rocks and coal measures, and is succeeded west and south of Virginia by 

 the vast rolling or level plains which extend to the Ohio and Mississippi ; 

 and which, histead of the silicious sands of the eastern coast, exhibit rich 

 and varying soils resting on limestone and other Transition rocks. In Vir- 

 ginia, the hilly region, which is one vast coal measure, extends to the bot- 

 tom lands of the Ohio ; and its soils, taken as a whole, range from ordi- 

 nary to meager.t 



We will now proceed to examine the capabilities and adaptation of each 

 aone, separately, for the })urposes of sheep husbandry. It has already been 

 shown that shccj) are liei:4thy, and produce as heavy, and may he made to 

 produce as tine fleeces as elsewhere, in the tide-water zone. They are 

 easily kept — finding, in a climate so mild, considerable succulent food even 

 in the winter ; and, south of North Carf)lina, large numbers would subsist 

 during the entire winter on the hardier wild herbage which continues green 

 in the forests and swamps. If this region was stocked with sheep, to the 

 extent alone to which they could find subsistence, summer and winter, on 

 wild herbage — or, in other words, get a living without costing their own- 

 ers anything — the present number would l)e largely increased, and their 

 "wool and mutton would add materially to the annual income of the own- 

 ers of the soil. But a better system would undoubtedly be not to depend 

 upon wild herbage alone, but to have pastures or sheep-walks seeded with 

 the best grasses which will flourish on them, and provision made for a quan- 

 tity of dry fodder, or some substitute for it, for winter use. 



Can this summer and winter feed be produced, in the region under ex- 

 amination, to any considerable extent, at an expense which would render 

 its conversion into wool and mutton profitable ? There are patches of 

 good natural pasture in many parts of the tide-water zone, apart from the 

 salt or fresh water marshes. But artificial pastures and meadows have 

 rarely been attempted. The planters in this portion of South Carolina, for 

 example, actually import hay ! " Many of the cotton and rice planters . 

 . . in some cases buy hay from New-England. . . . Northern and 

 (in some cases) European hay is even can-ied up to supply Augusta and 

 Columbia, along rivers which flow through swamps covered with natural 

 grass, so rank and luxuriant as to be almost impenetrable."! 



This neglect of grass culture springs from several causes. Little farm- 

 stock, comparatively speaking, is reared or kept by the rice and cotton- 

 planters, from the fact that most of the labor on such plantations is per- 

 formed by men ; and the few animals kept are fed on wild herbage, or the 

 offal of crops which ai'e raised for other purposes. The carnage and 

 draught horses and mules are fed in the winter on the leaves or " blades" 

 of corn ; and the neat stock get their living in the swamps, and in the 

 corn fields, where the greatest portion of the stalks are usually left stand- 

 ing. 



Nor is it to be denied that various imsuccessful experiments have been 

 made in the cultivation of the grasses and clover, which have discouraged 

 farther efforts, and led many to infer that the soil or climate, or both, are 

 decidedly uncongenial to them. That the soil or climate is as favorable to 

 the production of rich, thick swarded pastures or meadows, as in many 



* So tennod by WeiTier. TViduijU liMle used now by ^oolosists, I resort to it as the shortest descriptive 

 epithet which will include all these nx-ks, unless it be the Hemilisyiin of Brongniart, the Subinedial of Co- 

 aybeare, or the Graywacke of Di; 1« Beche— neither of which is so fiimiliar. nor, it appears to me. any bel- 

 ter. The Transition rocks are equivalent to both the Oiimln-ian of Prof. Sedgwick, and the Silurian of Mr. 

 Murchison — whose uomenclature is adopted by Lyell. Phillips, Mantell, &e. 



t Dr. Morse, Mitchell, &;c. % Ruffin's Agricultural Survey of 3oulli Carolina, 1843, p. 73 



(7 43) 



