460 SifEKP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER V. 



PROFITS OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.— I. DIRECT 

 PROFIT ON CAPITAL INVESTED. 



Different points of view in which the question of the profitableness of Sheep Husbandry in the Pouthem 

 •States is to be regarded. ..Direct piolit on Capital invested tirst considered. ..Average prices of Wool in 



New- York Average weight of tleece — Price of Sheep— Increase in Lambs — Amount of Manure. . .Price 



of Land. ..Number of Sheep supported per acre. ..Estimate of the Expenses and Profits of 100 Sheep, 

 taking average prices of Wool for the last fourteen years. . .Present low prices of Sheep — Causes — Esti- 

 mDte of Profits of 100 Sheep, at present prices of Sheep and Wool. ..Profits far below what they mijht be 

 by breeding better Sh(-cp. ..Writer's Flock — Annual yield of Wool — Prices sold at for six years — Stalisiics 

 of Premium Flock. . .Show that Wool can be produced at a large profit in New- York at present prices. . . 

 Healthfulness and economy of substituting Mutton for a portion of the Bacon consumed in tlie Southern 

 States. ..Economical advantages which Sheep possess over other animals — No risk by Death — Manure 

 more valuable — Best clearers of Briery Lands — Improvers of Vegetation. ..The cost of producing Wool in 

 the South, compared with the cost in New-York. ..Number of Sheep which can be supported per acre 

 South— (ireatcr number than on land of the same quality North, by reason of the winter growth of graina 

 and grasses in the former. ..Col. AlUton's statement — R. L. .•Mien's — Col. Hampton's — Hon. R. F. Simp- 

 son's in relation to the Atlantic States south of Virginia. ..Price of Lands in those States. ..Winter Vege- 

 tation in Tennessee, Kentucky and Vir"inia. ..Mr. Coles's statement — John S. Skinner's. ..Recapitulation... 

 Estimate of Profits on lOU Sheep Soutti— Compared with New-York. ..Profits on tlie Southern Mountains 

 ...Doct. Brockenboro's statements — Mr. Murdock's. ..Economy of Migratory Sheep Husbandry. ..Advan- 

 tages for it in the South comiiared with those of Spain. ..Drawbacks on Profits of Sheep Husbandry — 

 Dogs and Wolves. . .Their depredations compared with those in Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. .. 

 Remedy. 



Dear Sir: In ascertaining the Profits of Sheep Husbandry in the 

 Southern States, several considerations present themselves, apart from the 

 mere question of direct annual profit or loss on a given investment in 

 Sheep and in land for their subsistence. The more immediate and obvious 

 profit is doubtless the first question ; but in regarding the general advan- 

 tages or disadvantages of this branch of husbandry — particularly in a re- 

 gion circumstanced in all particulars as the Southern States are — we are 

 farther to consider the practicability and comparative economy of making it 

 the basis of an effectual amelioration in soils naturally sterile, or those 

 which have been rendered so by excessive and injudicious cultivation ; 

 and its comparative efficacy in giving to Southern Agriculture a mixed 

 and convertible character, and thereby sustaining (or improving) all the 

 present good tillage lands, in the place of continuing the " new and old 

 field" system — (tilling land until it is worn out, then abandoning it and 

 opening new lands,) — once so general, and even now by far too prevalent. 

 And there is another point of no mean importance : whether, independent 

 of preceding considerations, and even if the staples furnished by sheep 

 husbandry proved no more profital)lc, in direct returns on capital invested, 

 than some' of the present staples, it W(nild iu)t be better economy, on the 

 whole, for the South to produce the raw material and manufacture domes- 

 tic woolens, particularly for tlit^ apparel and bedding of slaves, than to be 

 dependent for them on England or Massachusetts. 



To ascertain the din^ct and immediate profit on investment in sheep hus- 

 bandry, let us appeal to well settled facts and statistics, instead of content- 

 ing ourselves with vague and general propositions. For tlie following 

 Table of the average prices of good wool* in the Stale of New- York, which 

 was published in my replies to Mr. Walker's " Treasury Circular " in 



• Such wools as are nscd for the manufnctnro of broad and other cloths of pood quality— ran gins', say, 

 from Jth blood Merino to pure Sii.xon— excluding native, grade (below Uh Mcriuo), and all English woola. 

 (9)0) 



