464 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY FN THE SOUTH. 



quality ; and these facts farther suggest the expetliency of relying on our 

 own efforts to " protect " this interest, rather than the fickle support of 

 National legislation. 



For the production of a cheap, wholesome, and highly nutritious food, 

 no animal excels the sheep. Theoretical considerations, as well as exper- 

 iment, show the superiority of mutton to pork in the formation of vigor- 

 ous muscle ;* and its tendency is less, particularly in hot climates, to en- 

 gender inflammatory and putrid diseases. The consumption of consider- 

 able quantities of fat is indispensable, in cold climates, to supply the 

 necessary amount of carbon to support " combustion," as Liebig terms it, 

 in the lungs, or, in other words, to maintain the animal heat. Hence the 

 Laplander and the Esquimaux find a grateful diet in train-oil, or the adi- 

 pose parts of Arctic fish and mammalia. That fat pork should be the 

 favorite ineat, in the Northern States, is not perhaps so singular, but that 

 it (under the name of bacon) should constitute the principal one consumed 

 in our warm Southern latitudes, and especially that it should constitute so 

 large a proportion of all the food consumed,! is indeed a most anomalous 

 fact, and is utterly unparalleled among the practices of other nations occu- 

 pying the same latitudes. The tendency of this practice to produce dis- 

 ease, physical inertia, indisposition and incapacity to sustain continued 

 activity, will not, I think, be questioned by the pathologist or the close 

 observer. 



Mutton and lamb are a favorite, if not the favorite food of the English 

 of all classes. Notwithstanding all that has been said and written of the 

 " roast beef" of" Old England," mutton is more eaten there by people of 

 every rank.| On the other hand, it is evidently not a favorite meat in the 

 United States, though its proportionable consumption is evidently increas- 

 ing. Whence the difference 1 Circumstances have led to habit, and habit, 

 in a great measui'e, regulates appetite. It needs no other proof than ia 

 to be found in the experience of every individual, to show that the appe 

 tite is readily trained to relish what was even positively disgusting, and to 

 become indifferent to what was once the most grateful. 



That the preceding facts are well worthy of attention among those who 

 are favorable to the introduction of sheep husbandry, among planters wlio 

 supply not less than 3 lbs. per week of good bacon, or a full equivalent, to 

 each slave, on plantations where the number ranges fi'om ten to one hun- 

 dred, and sometimes many more, there can be little doubt. Twenty-five 

 slaves would thus consume 3,900 lbs. of bacon per animm ; and the more 

 common allowance of the opulent planter is about 200 lbs. per head, or 

 5,000 lbs. for twenty-five. If an equivalent for at least half of this was 



* The theorcticnl considerntions will be found sufficiently discussed in Liebij's " Animal Chemistry." For 

 experimental evidence, I know of none tliut CHn be more depended on— which approaches any neaier 

 actual demonstration — than that which is furnished by the Ena;lish prizefijihters. To iittain the proper con- 

 dition to sustain the protracted and tremendous exertions of their brutal trade, their flesh must anain the 

 hardness and touiihness of whipcord, and they must, at the same time. maintRin that physical elasticity 

 (technically, " corkiness,") which adds agility to iron strensth. These men, while training, are suti'ered to 

 eat little or no adipose matter, and not evi:n the lean oi pork. Their animal food is excUisively beef or 

 mutton, or both. Some trainers prefer the former, some the latter. I have seen this matter very fully al- 

 luded to, but do not now remember any more explicit authority than that contained in the following note 

 to Carpenter's Principles of flumim Physiology, (p. 357.) 



" The method of training (employed by Jackson, (a celebrated trainer of" prize-fighters in modem times.) 

 as deduced from his answers to questions put to him by John Bell, was to beuin on a clear foimdalion by 

 an emetic and two or three jjurgos. lieef and mutton, the lean of fat meat being pieferred, constituted the 

 principal food; veal, lamb and pork wore said to be less diaesiible ('the last purges some men'>. Fish 

 was eaid to be a ' watery kind ot diet ;' and is employed by jijckiys who wish to reduce weight by sweat- 

 ing." 



T I mean this portion of the remark to apply more particularly to the non-laboring classes. The propor- 

 tion consumed by the slave, though ample, is uot excessive, when his laboring habits are taken into con- 

 sideration 



\ 1 state tliis on the authority of various individuals who have been much in F.ngland, And who have 

 been placed in positions to form a pretty accurate opinion. Mr. Colman speaks of the ' exlxaordjjuuy 

 consumption of mutton iu Knglund, without, however, giving any comparauive data. 



