468 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



Bpects, treated more like outlaws than domestic animabs. When out, all the flocks in the 

 neighborhood mingle together. From their disposition to ramble, and the incursions of dogs, 

 they get scattered, and scarcely any farmer can get up to the fall shearing more than one- 

 half of his count. 



The region above described includes Pickens, Greuville and Sj)artan6b\n-g, so far as thia 

 State is concerned. Going eiist of this sti-ip, you at once get into good land, where the set- 

 tlements are frequent. Here snow is rare, and wlieat, rje and barley are used for winter 

 pastures for sheep, and they continue growing during the whiter. Wood gi"as8 does not 

 abound in diis region, as the woods are not kept burnt.* 



Very respectfully, yours, &c. R. F. SIMPSON. 



The preceding statements give a sufficient idea of the expense of feed- 

 ing sheep in the Carolinas, Georgia, and the Gulf States. In all of these, 

 there is a striking similarity in soils and natural products, and also in cli 

 mate — with, perhaps, the exception of North Carolina, which is a trifle 

 colder. In all of them, as well as in all the other Southern States, land 

 can be bought at the same low prices.t 



The cost of the winter forage of sheep in Tennessee may be inferred 

 from the statements of Mr. Kramer, (in Letter IV.) On even the lofty 

 Cumberland Mountains, in that State, grass grows during the entire win- 

 ter, and snow rarely covers the ground to exceed forty-eight hours ! Judge 

 Beatty's statements in relation to Kentucky (in the same letter) show that 

 the luxuriant blue-grass pastures of that State will sustain sheep during 

 the entire winter ; and that they frequently obtain their Avhole subsistence 

 on the grasses, even on the mountains. Let us now turn to Virginia, the 

 most northern of the Southern States. In a recent letter to me, John S. 

 Skinner, Esq. says : 



" Hon. Mr. Coles, a Member of Congress from Virginia+ — a sedate, attentive and practical 

 farmer — once informed me that his flock of 200 sheep, kept in good condition summer and 



winter, did not cost him $10 a year You must know that they, in the general 



way, as I believe, never feed their sheep, winter or summer, except where the ground is 

 covered with snow — which is rarely the case, and then the snow does not lie more than a 

 day, or at most two days. . . . No doubt winter pasture might be j>rovi(led by sowing 

 rye in the proper season (the usual system is to sow it the last thing, and .-is long as the 

 farmer can " catch a chance") and putting the ground in good condition; and in that way 



adequate provision miglit be nrade for any deficiency of natural pasture ^Vhen 



the snow does cover the ground in Virginia, they give the sheep corn-blades — an excellent 

 fodder. I think the rule was when I was a boy (in the rare exigency alluded to) to give 

 tJjem a bundle of l)lades each. A bundle of blades compacted would be about as large as 

 tlie upper jiart of your arm." 



North- Western Virginia seems to be considerably colder than the corre- 

 epouding portion of the State east of the mountains; and the winter fod- 

 dering season is not greatly shorter — though the amount of fodder con- 

 sumed must be far less — than in Western Pennsylvania, or in many por- 

 tion.s of Ne;w-Yor]c.|| Yet, singularly enough, more sheep are bred here 

 in proportion, probably, than in any other portion of the Southern States! 



* Some other paragraphs from this letter arc omitted for quctiilion under the heads of which they specif- 

 ically treat 



t fl in S Pirons. n Member of Conj;rC8.i from this (N. Y.) State, writes me, after constiltnlion with von- 

 OU8 Soulhom Member", lliat " good lands may be purchitscd for SI 50 per acre, mid in great abiuidaiice. In 

 most of the Somhern St'ite-." 



Mr. Garret \n(trc%/s, of NVIIkes Co., fieor^jia, in ii commnnientimi in the American .\!;nCMlluri3l (April, 

 1844), sayc : "ScNcn'l hundred acres (if die middle or hilly zone) are often sold for a dolUn or less per 

 acre. The usual rule ii to fell the woodland for what it may be lhi)\ialu to be worlli, and uive the pur- 

 chaser the old lands and the houses for tiolhiiij; For Sl.OOO or $1,.>00, a comfortable house and 



out-hou-es, garden. <fec. may he hail, ■\ith »cvural hundred acres of land, . . wanlimj nothiuj; but a fair 

 chance to become as fertile US may be .leoired. . . . 'J'licrc is no end of llie materials for manure." 



I ncCTuiy sn/ it stated by n per'leman in a communication which was p\iblished in the N. V. Farmer ard 

 M<!chanl ■, that he was authorized logiec away good land in the Cumbcilimd .Mouulains to sober aiid indus- 

 trious petdcis. 



The prices in the N. C. Mountains will bo seen from Mr. Clineman's letter, (Letter IV.) 



t Mr. Coles resided in Pltl-iylvania, a county adjoinini; North Caroliun, in the middle or hilly zone. 



II .Icsse l",rin|n2to'i, of llollid.iy's Cove, llrooke Co , Va . writes me : " Our average time of fedderinp te 

 at least 4 months, and wc gcuerully provide provender equal to 5 lous of hay for each bimdrcd grown 

 «hecp, fur the winter." 



(948/ 



