SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 4J9 



tions, Col. Edward Colston, of Berkley county, Virginia, makes the fol- 

 lowing statements : 



" Tlio western part of our county, containing jx'rliaps :{0,00() acres, is Tnoiintainous. I 

 have i-idden there for ten miles witliont seeing a linniuu hal)ilation, anil althonsli from its 

 abundant herbage it might sustain lor its owners 20,000 head of sheep, not a single one is t» 

 be found grazing on its surface. In this region may he found, also, much land fit for culti- 

 vation, with fnie meadows and abundant water. Vet all this is worthless lo our communilv, 

 and a dead capital to the proprietors. There is lerntory and grass enough here to be di- 

 vided into three or four sheep-walks, each sustaining fi(un H,000 to 4,000 sheep during the 

 suininer, with meadow and arable land enough, at a small expense, to provide amply lor 

 winter sustenance." 



Hon. Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, in a letter to Mr. Skiinier,* says : 



• Virginia has many advantages for breeding sheep, not surpassed in the United States 

 The middle part of the State, and especially the whole range of the south-west Mountains 

 and Blue Ridge. atVord the greatest facilitjes for- tuie sheep-walks. Hills covered with tine 

 herbage, extensive inclosures, abundance of running water, and well sheltered by trees 

 against the heat and sun of summer." 



The following extracts are from a communication in the Monthly .Jour- 

 nal of Agriculture, t by Hon. \V. L. Goggin, who recently represented the 

 District he describes in Congress : 



" Bedford, the coimty in which I reside, is bounded on the south side by the Staunton 

 River, on the noith by the .Tames River, while its western extremit}', the whole length, 



leaches the top of the Blue Ridge The Peaks of Ottert are situated in this county-. 



on the north-west comer — they are not only beautiful themselves, when seen its they are in 

 the disttmce, but the whole range of the Blue Ridge presents, perhaps, here, the most inter- 

 esting view of the kind in the State. These moiuitains afford an unlimited range for stock. 

 and the advantages for sheeji-walks (mild as is the climate, combined with the productive- 

 ness of the soil) that are nowhere equaled, as is believed, except by similar situations in 



the ntnghboring counties Ranges for sheep may be had at a veiy reihiced price on 



Uie mountains, and where, too, could be produced all the grasses in which thev delisht, such 

 as the red and white clover, the meadow fox-tail, short blue meadow-grass, hicern, rye-grass, 

 &c. These advantages, and then the beautiful, clear streams which abound in all the moun- 

 tain regions, invite a pastoral life." Speaking of Amherst and Nelson counties, he says : 

 ' The ranges for stock here, too, are extensive, and the beautifiil, rich mountain sides inter- 

 spersed with fann-houses, some of them even elegant mansions, betoken an independence 

 amnng the inhabitants that is often found in such situations. ]\Iany of the mountains, to 

 their verj' summits, are covered with the richest verdure." Of Madison and (ireene coun- 

 ties he says: " Here, too, are abundant ranges, and the wonder is that sheep husbandry is 

 not introduced." 



The character of the loftier mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, 

 for the production of grasses, would seem to leave no doubt, in this par- 

 ticular, in regard to the lower ones which form the prolongation of the 

 same chains in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Let us now turn 

 our glance to the great western chain — the Cumberland Mountains — in 

 Kentucky and Temiessee. 



The following extracts are from a communication published by Hon. A. 

 Beatty in the American Agriculturist : 



" But it is not upon our high-priced rich lands alnue that we can cany on sheep husbandly 

 to advantage. Kentucky luis a belt of hill and mountain countiy, bordering on the Vii-ginia 

 line on the east, and on the rich lands of the State on the west, averaging about sevent>--tive 

 miles in width, extending from the Ohio River and Big Sandy, latitude 38^ 30', to the" Ten- 

 nessee line, 360 39' north. The whole of this legion is admu-ably adapted to sheep hus- 

 bandry ; the most northern part but a few minutes noith of my residence, and extenduig 

 about two degrees farther south. The lands are very cheap : the State price of those not 

 yet appropriated only five cents per acre, and those purchased second-hand, mure or less 

 improved, may be had from 25 lo .'30 cents per acre, and still less when miimproved. This 

 country in a state of nature furnishes, duruig the spring, summer, and fall months, a fine 

 range for sheep, and is susceptible of gi-eat iinprovement by clearing up and sowing the cul- 

 tivated grasses for winter feeding. This whole country is finely adapted to the Spanish 



* Monthly Journal of Agriculture. July, 184.5, pp. 37-39. t lb., October, 1843, pp. 161-183. 



X The lofueet mountains, 88 before elated, of Virginia. 

 (851) 



