SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 461 



1845,* I was indebted to a most i"espcctable and extensive purcliaser of 

 wool, and its accui-acy is beyond question. 



TABLE No. 7. 



It will thus be seen that for a period of fourteen years preceding 1845, 

 the average price of good wools was 39- cents per jiound.t 



The average weight of fleece in sheep yielding this wool has been about 

 3 lbs. ; the pure-blood Saxons less ; but those })caiing the coarsest wool 

 included, in the average, more. 



The average price of sheep of the quality under consideration, has been 

 not less than §2 per head in the fall, and lambs half that price.| The an- 

 nual increase in lambs would be about 80 per cent., or if less by reason of 

 the number of wethers in the flock, the groirfh of the latter would give a 

 corresponding increase in profit. One hundred sheep, properly littered, 

 will make at least forty loads of manure during the one hundred and fifty 

 days during which they are confined to dry feed, in our Northern 

 winters. 



The grazing lands of New-York, cut up as they are into small farms,|| 

 and each being provided with dwelling and farm buildings, are worth 

 from $15 to -$30 per acre. Prime sheep lands will average about %20.\ 



In relation to the amount of land necessary to support a given number 

 of sheep, the experience of a good many years has satisfied me that the 

 rule commonly laid down on the grazing lands of New-York and New- 

 England, that, on the average, one acre of land will give subsistence to 

 three fine-wooled sheep throughout the year, is an accurate one.1] On 

 grain farms, it is considered good economy to keep one sheep for every 

 acre of cleared land which the farm contains ; on those where mixed 

 husbandry is practiced, two ; and, on those exclusively devoted to sheep, 

 three. 



In the following, and all similar estimates, I shall reckon the profits on 

 the land and expenditures, instead of the laiid and the commovhj quoted, 

 vrices of grass, hay, &c., consumed. These prices, in the interior, are 



* ?ee Report of the Secretary nf the TrnRSury. 184.'i, p. 461. I thouaht, and so stated to Mr. Walker, that 

 ihe Table placed wools about H cents per pound too hiph. Bui subsequent information has convinced me 

 that I was in error. In my statement of the arerage profits of sheep liusbandry, in those replies, I estima- 

 ted the average price of wool by the prices pnid by a local and much smaller purchaser, and for a com- 

 paratively limited term of years. I was not then aware of the utior defectiveness of the U. S Census re- 

 turns (pointed out in Letter II.) in relation to the annual product of wool, and therefore was misled in the 

 (iverage weight of fleeces ; and, speaking from impression lalher than experiment, I placed the value of 

 the manure altogether too low. Those queslions and replies have led me into experiments and inquiries, 

 which have resulted in more accurate information. I allude to this subject, because I think it every man's 

 duty to correct any errors or explain any discrepancies sul)sequently discovered by him, in his stalemenU 

 which have been thrown before the ]>viblic, and thus are jilaced in a position to mislead. 



t During 1846 it was from 30 to 32 cents per pound, but as this estimate is not based on extensive pur- 

 chases, like the preceding, I have not placed it in the table. 



J Including ^rarfc sheep, which form the greatest proportion of the whole number. There have been 

 very few pure-blood Merinos in the State, and many of the Saxon flocks have been so miserably deterio- 

 rated in enrcass and weight of tieece, that they have sold for low prices. But good, .'^axons sold much 

 above this until within three or four years: since then, the Merinos have been rapidly driving out the 

 Saxons, and those of good quality and undoubted pedigree have sold for fiom live to twenty-tive times as 

 much. The higher the price, the greitcr the riotits, by" reason of the value of the increase. 



II It would be my impression that tlie faims in the grazing regions do not, on tlie average, exceed 130 

 acres each. 



6 Id est, in the grazing region. 



II I say " line-wooled sheep," because the larger and coarser Downs, Lcicestera, Cotswolds, &c. coDSume 

 much more, as will hereafter be shown. 



(94U 



