SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 257 



proved South-Down will subsist, and attain its proper weight and fatness, 

 on very pooi*or very scant herbage. The old unimproved variety would, 

 like some other smallish and hardy races, obtain a living on keep as poor 

 as that which grew on the lightest and thinnest soils of Sussex. Moulded 

 by the hand of Ellman, and other breeders, to better fulfill the conditions 

 of a mutton sheep, in size and other particulars, they demand that in- 

 creased su]iply of food which the formation of additional fat and muscle 

 require. Retaining some of the properties of the parent stock, they are 

 less sluggish, and bear travel better than the Long Wools ; but with them 

 as with the latter, and all other animals, much or prolonged. exercise in 

 pursuit of food or otherwise, is unfavorable to obesity. Men, and par- 

 ticularly oimiers, in advocating the claims of this breed and that, seem not 

 iinfrequently to forget that the general physical laws which control in the 

 development of all the animal tissues as well as functions, are uniform. 

 Better organs will doubtless make a better appropriation of animal food ; 

 and they may be taught, so to speak, to appropriate it in particular direc- 

 tions — in one breed, more especially to the production of fat — in another, 

 of muscle or lean meat — in another, wool. But, ccetcris paribus, large 

 animals will always require more food than small ones. Animals which 

 are to be carried to a high state of fatness must have plentiful and nutri- 

 tious food, and they must exercise but little in order to prevent the unne- 

 cessary " combustion " in the lungs, of that carbon which forms more than 

 seven-tenths of their fat. No art of breeding can countervail these estab- 

 lished laws of Nature. 



Again, there are no facilities in the South for marketing large quantities 

 of mutton — of a tithe of that which would be annually fitted for the sham- 

 bles, were Sheep Husbandry introduced to anything like the extent I have 

 recommended, and with the mutton, breeds of sheep. With few cities and 

 large villages — with a sparse population — with an agricultural population 

 the gi'eatest drawback on whose pecuniary prosperity is their inability to 

 market their own surplus edibles — not a particle of rational doubt can ex- 

 ist on this point. True, I have expressed the opinion that, both as a mat- 

 ter of healthfulness and economy, mutton should be substituted for a moi- 

 ety of the bacon used on the plantation; but with such a change, in a 

 country so exclusively agricultural, each landholder would raise his own 

 supply, and thus no market be created. It may then be regarded as a set- 

 tled point that the production of wool is the primary, the great object of 

 Southern Sheep Husbandry. 



In instituting a comparison between breeds of sheep for wool-growing 

 purposes, I will, in the outset, lay down the obviously incontrovertible 

 proposition that tlie question is not what variety Avill shear the heaviest or 

 even the most valuable fleeces, irrespective of the cost of production. — 

 Cost of feed and care, and every other expense, must be deducted, to fairly 

 test the profits of an animal. If a large sheep consume twice as much food 

 as a small one, and give but once and a half as much wool, it is obviously 

 more profitable, other things being equal, to keep two of the smaller sheep. 

 The true question then is, ivith the same expense in other particulars. From 

 what breed will the verdure of an acre of Umd produce the greatest value of 

 wool ? 



Let us first proceed to ascertain the comparative amount of food con- 

 sumed by the several breeds. There are no satisfactory experiments 

 which show that breed, in itself considered, has any particular influence on 

 the quantity of food consumed. It is found, with all varieties, tJiat the con- 

 sumption is in proportion to the live weight of the (grown) animal. Of 

 course, this rule is not invariable in its individual application, but its gen- 



(545) 17 



