SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 463 



It falls far sluirt of that realized l)y breeders and Hock-masters, who 

 started their flocks with the hest pure-blood sheep then to be found in the 

 country ; and who have subsequently continued to improve them by great 

 care in breedini;, and by a rigorous course of selection. 



I have bred Merino sheep for a number of years, and latterly in consid- 

 erable numbers ; and in no case have my s^rown sheep averai^ed less than 

 5 lbs. of well washed wool per annum. The quality of the wool may be 

 inferred from a comparison of the ])rices at which it has sold, with those in 

 Table 7. In 1846, I sold for 35 cents per pound ; bi 1845, for S.'j-J- cents ; 

 in 1844, for 48 cents ; in 1843, for 33] cents ; in 1842, for 35 cents, and 

 so on. 



To give more precise data, I select the following statement of the pro- 

 ducts of a flock, on which I drew the first premium ofiered by the New- 

 York State Agricultural Society for " the best managed flock of sheep," 

 in 1844: 



[From the Triinsactions of the N. V. State Agi icultural Society, 1844, p. 254. J 



" In the winter of 1813-4, I wintered in :i separate Hock fifty-one ewes over one year 

 old, two ewe latnbs, two rams, one of tlieni one and oiii; of tlicni two years old. Of llie ewee 

 over one year old, twenty-eight were fuU-ljlood Merinos ; Iwenty-tln-ee were h;ill-blood Me- 

 rinos and iiuU-hlood Soulli-Down.s ; the two ewe ianil).s were three-fourth-blood Merino and 

 one-fourlli-blood South-Down : and the two rams were full-blood Merino.?. The flock w^ere 

 kept as fbllow.s tln'ough the winter: They were fed hay morning and night, and were, as a 

 general rule, required to eat it up clean. At noon the flock were daily fed three bundles of 

 oats and barley (which iiad growni mi.xed, say three yiarts oats and one part barley.) until 

 the 2.5th of December — after which they received four bundles of oats. The grain was 

 light and shrunken. They received no hay at noon during the winter, and usually consumed 

 all the straw of the grain fed them. They had a good shelter, and access to pure water at 

 all times. From this flock I raised fifty-three lambs. The full-blood Mei-inos, including 

 two rams, and the two three-fourth-blood latnbs, (in all thirty-two.) sheare<l one hundred 

 and eighty-si.x ])ounds and four ounces of washed wool, which I sold at ibrty-eighl cents per 

 pound. Four of the full-bloods hail two years' fleeces on. The half-blood Merinos and 

 half-blood South-Downs (twenty -three) sheared eighty and one-half pounds of wiished wool, 

 seventj'-one pounds of which I sold at thirty-eight cents per pound. During the sununer of 

 1841, the flock were kept in good ordinary pasture, and salted once a week." 



Thus, the Merino fleeces averaged 5 lbs. 13i oz. and sold for $2 79-| each ; 

 and the gi-ades between Merino and South-Down averaged 3 lbs. 8 oz. to 

 the fleece, and sold for $1 33 each. 



It will be observed that four of the full-bloods (they were ewes) had 

 two years' fleeces on. A two years' fleece will not weigh as much as two 

 single years' fleeces from the same sheep. On the average, it will weigh 

 about three-quarters as much.* On the other hand, the lot included two 

 three-quarter-blood lamb fleeces, which would fall below the average 

 weight of the others, and a portion of the flock were yearlings and two- 

 year olds. The Merino never attains its maximum weight of fleece before 

 three years old, and ordinarily not until four, and therefore the aggregate 

 weight of wool of the 32 sheep, given above, does not, to say the least of 

 it, give too favorable a view of the product of sheeji of this quality. This 

 is proved by the fact that my entire flock of full-bloods sheared about 

 three-twentieths of an ounce over six pounds each, the succeeding year. 



It would give me great pleasure to subjoin similar statistics of other 

 carefully bred flocks, were authorized statements of them in my posses- 

 sion, or published within my knowledge. 



It is sufficiently apparent from the above facts and estimates, that wool 

 has not yet reached the lowest point at which it can be produced at an 

 ample profit, on lands of the value indicated, if the slicq) are of the f roper 



* That is to say, if the single years' fleeces would equal fi lbs. e.nch. a two years' fleece, instead of weigh- 

 ing twice ^\» much, or 12 lbs., will not exceed three-quarters c-t' such ncrgrcgate weight, or 9 Iba. The wool 

 wastes when it becomes eo long, and perhaps does not grow so rapidly. 

 (943J 



