SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



469 



This region being essentially Northern in its characteristics no allusion 

 will be had to it in subsecjuent remarks. 



It will be seen from the preceding statements that in many, if not most 

 situations, throughout the whole Southern States, sheep will obtain suffi- 

 cient food throughout the year from the pastures,* or from autumn-sown 

 grains, excepting on the higher or more northern mountains. As has been 

 before remarked, as the grain subsequently yields its crop, its tillage is not 

 properly chargeable among the expenses of producing wool. The prepa- 

 ration of hay, and labor of foddering, are also dispensed with. By the 

 rule of estimation followed in relation to New-York, the items on the debit 

 side. of the account would then be — interest on purchase money; interest 

 on land ; expense of shearing; salt, tar, and general supervision ; and loss 

 by death. The items on the credit side would be the same with those of 

 New-York. 



Your own statements. Sir, as well as those of Mr. Simpson, show that, 

 in many situations, both in the tide-water and hilly zone, three sheep can 

 be supported on the herbage of an acre, without other fodder. His state- 

 ments show that such lands can be bought at " from 50 cents to Si 50 per 

 acre." The annual account then would stand thus : 



Vr. 



$ ctf 



100 sheep — to interest on purchase money, at 



$1 "25 per head $8 75 



To interest on :)3J acres of land at $1 50 3 50 



" expense of shearing 4 00 



" salt, tar, and general supervision 8 00 



" loss by death 2 per cent, over and above 



value of pulled wool 2 50 



Total .,f2t) 75 



$ cts. 



By 300 lbs. of wool at 31 cents per pound.. .$9;! CO 



•' 80 lambs, at t>2i cents per head 50 00 



" Manuret 28 00 



Total $171 00 



Balance $144 25 



Making S4 32, or two hundred and eighty-eight per cent, clear profit per 

 acre, on lands Avorth $1 50 ! 



By the respective estimates it will be seen that the gioss cost of pro- 

 ducing a pound of wool (allowing 3 lbs. to the fleece) is, in the Southern 

 States, SjL cents ; in New-York 27|| cents| — or nearly three and a half 

 times greater in the latter ! I have put down the expense of shearing the 

 same in both cases, and the supervision, South, twice as high as the sum- 

 mer care, in the North. Shearing always costs $1 a day, per hand, in the 

 North, and the summer care devolves upon the paid laborer whose every 

 hour counts. The shearing would not be worth to exceed S2 a hundred 

 on a plantation where slaves are kept, and the supervision or care could 

 scarcely be considered an expense, when it could be borne mainly, if not 

 entirely, by superannuated or decrepit slaves, or even by children. The 

 real expense of growing wool on land of this quality and price would be 

 about 5-J2 cents per pound ;|| and calling the fleece 4 lbs. (which weight it 

 always ought to be made to attain) it would but little exceed 3i cents.§ 

 This is above Mr. Coles's estimate of expense in southem central Vir- 

 ginia, and Mr. John S. Skinner has repeatedly expressed the opinion that 

 it could be grown in various parts of the Southern States at 3 cents per 



* This supply could be rendered far more certain and available, where desirable, by leaving a portion of 

 the fields undepagtured in the latter part of summer and autumn. This "fog" or after-grass would not only 

 afford much food, of itself, but it also greatly favors the sprouting of the young grass underneath it, by the 

 protection it offers from frosts and cold winds. 



t I have put this down the same as at the North, because I suppose it is just as valuable at the Pouth, 

 and quite as much needed. Few are disposed to appreciate the value of manure when it is not presenied 

 to their view in bulk, as in the barn-yard ; but it is worth quite as much, dropped in the first inttance 

 over the fields. I feel confident that 1 have not over-estimated its value either for the t'otilh or the North. 



% To obtain these results, I divided the whole annual expcni^e, as set down in the refpeclive estimatea, 

 with the exception of the charge of 2 per cent, for loss by death, by the amount of wool produced. For 

 reasons already given, I do not consider the wool charjeable with such loss by death, except in an es. 

 timate where the full product of wool and lambs is carried out. 



Sin this estimate I call shearing $2 per hundred, salt and tar $1, and eupervitlon nothicg. 

 Estimated as in the preceding note. 

 (949) 



